Star Wars: The Last Hope
by NelBlake92
Summary: This is a companion story that picks up around Chpt 19 of the First FanFic Two Parts of A Whole: A Reylo Star Wars Story after chpt 3. This story is set in the Star Wars universe w/ original characters from Star Wars but starring characters my friends & I created using material from the franchise. They are new force users who want to join the Resistance and learn under Rey... Enjoy
1. Prologue: The Gathering

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FOR Two Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE READ CHAPTER 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the amazing characters but I did use the material to create characters to add to the universe.

This story is about a group of Force Sensitives that are looking to join the Resistance, though it is set in the star wars univserse and does feature characters from Star Wars it is mainly about my original characters working for the Resistance to take out the First Order.

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Prologue:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

We find the galaxy still fighting to find its balance after the destruction of the Empire. A delicate peace reigned as the remnants of the Imperial Army struggled with what to do next while the ex-rebels worked on establishing the New Republic. During that time many children were born as there usually are in times of peace.

Under the Republic's noses a Force Sensitive being known only as Snoke was usurping an army to rival any army in the entire galaxy. Between clones who turned from the republic, fleeing members of the Imperial days, and children snatched from their homes, Snoke build his army slowly but surely all the while looking for the perfect apprentice.

Luke Skywalker, now believed to be the only Jedi Master, beings traveling the galaxy collecting apprentices and younglings to teach in the hopes of rebuilding the Jedi Order. Eventually he would take on young Ben Solo and settle on an unknown planet to begin his own Jedi temple and school.

During this peaceful period 6 heroes were born to help bring balance to the Force and the galaxy as a whole. Each facing and overcoming hardships that might break lesser beings. Each one thinking they are alone in this struggle to survive. They are the future of the Jedi Order or maybe even something new.

…

Eshreal Mecca

Our first hero comes from a planet called Quycury located in the Quinazy system located in the Asteria Star Galaxy which was outside the known and unknown regions of the galaxy known as the Skyriver.

The beings that lived on Quycury were described as humanoid beings with insect qualities such as antennae, insect wings, stingers or mandibles. The buildings were all-natural structures such as giant trees or very large flowers that grew very close together. The people of Quycury lived simple lives tending to their many pets and the plants that served as their food.

Many scholars had never even heard of the peaceful, lush flower covered planet until a Jedi Temple was built on it by the natural inhabitants of the planet when Force Sensitive children began being born around 250 BBY. Not long after the temple was built Jedi, from all over the galaxy were drawn to the one planet system causing trade routes to start extending out to the system.

The trade routes brought progress to the small planet and the inhabitants began selling goods that were already manufactured on the planet such as Curian Honey Milk made by the bee-like Curians that lived on the South Western part of the planet and Curian Crystalline Flower Jewelry made by the butterfly-like Curians that lived on the North Eastern part of the planet.

The Jedi who built the Curian Jedi temple were taught by a being named Yoda who came from the Skyriver galaxy all about the ways of the Force and the Jedi. Yoda warned them of the Sith and Dark Jedi, beings who would target the tiny peaceful planet as well as leaving Holocrons for them filled with his knowledge of the great Jedi that came before him. He also gave the 5 new Jedi master Kyber crystals and told them how to make lightsabers and where they could find new Kyber crystals for future generations of Curian Jedi. Yoda stayed with them for 20 years before feeling that they were able to fend for themselves should the Imperial Empire ever venture out near their system.

5 years after the battle of Endor the last Curian Jedi by the name of Eshreal Mecca was born to a Jedi father by the name of Jedah and a Curian woman by the name of Eisley Mecca. Before Eshreal was even born her father returned to the Curian Jedi temple to help teach the younglings. Eisley knew her husband was an important man among the Jedi that inhabited Quycury. She also wasn't surprised when her daughter turned out to be force sensitive like her husband.

Eshreal was beautiful like her mother with jewel like sepia eyes with thick lashes, broad nose and lush lips wrapped in cinnamon brown skin. At a young age her burgundy tresses hung down her back. She was born with the same butterfly wings and antennae as her parents. As she got older she learned to fold the wings away to become like a tattoo against her body. When the wings were present she was able to fly like all winged Curians.

Jedah came for Eshreal at the age of four when the Force awakened in her. Eshreal was sad and didn't want to leave her mother. She didn't care about these stupid powers that everyone was talking about she just wanted her mother. She had never even seen her father and now he was taking her way. Eshreal did not take well to life among the Jedi at first. She cried every day and refused to participate with the others. She clung to her father and wouldn't leave his side. Jedah occupied his child's time with teaching her to fix things around the temple including the temple's one droid.

The Grand Master of the Temple thought they were going to have to send her back to her mother until Eshreal saw a lightsaber for the first time. After that she was eager to learn everything about being a Jedi and the ways of the Force. The basics of the Force came easily to Eshreal as she was able to calm her mind and find the meditative state very well for a 5-year-old.

By the time she was 7 years old, Jedi Master Albedo took her on as his padawan. Eshreal was the youngest youngling to ever be taken as a padawan on Quycury. Jedah was very proud of his daughter and knew she would be properly trained as he had been trained by Albedo when he was a youngling.

Eshreal's favorite activity was lightsaber practice. Just holding the practice saber in her hands made her feel complete. Not that she wanted to use it on another being, she just wanted to build her own. She worked harder than all the other students taking on any extra chores that needed to be done and getting up early to start her meditation before anyone else. Master Albedo told her on many occasions that things like this can't be rushed and everyone learned at their own pace, but she was determined.

She was talented for her age but the other padawans were all older than her and had been at the temple longer, so they had more experience. After a full year of shadowing Master Albedo, Eshreal proved she was ready to go with the older padawan to the planet Ilum to participate in the Gathering Ritual to find Kyber crystals and build their own lightsaber.

Unknown to the Curian Jedi, Snoke had sent man to check out the first planet outside of Skyriver that anyone had saw fit to connect to a trade route. Upon learning about the Curian Jedi who had managed escape the consequences of the Jedi Purge the man reported back to Snoke. Before Snoke could send men out to Quycury a group of Jedi left the planet for Ilum. The First Order showed up with 5 battle ships, more than 10 tie fighters and thousands of men.

The peaceful Curians never stood a chance against the might of the First Order. They questioned and then killed every citizen they came across before using a Stardestoyer to blow it up leaving no survivors. The spy informed the commander that a group of Jedi escaped to Ilum, the Kyber Crystal planet.

Eshreal and 5 others had managed to sneak their way on to Ilum and used a secret entrance to get down into the mostly destroyed Jedi temple and Crystal Cave. They had been so busy taking out First Order soldiers and learning force techniques to survive in the climate that they had been on Ilum for a month before the 4 padawan even began the Gathering Ritual.

Eshreal was amazed when the Kyber crystal that called to her split into two identical pieces; one that glowed silvery green and one that glowed silvery blue. Master Albedo explained that the crystal could not decide on which color fit her personality and force presence better. Once the others had obtained their Kyber crystals the masters led the padawan back into the temple where the various parts needed to build the lightsabers were stored. The students then meditated on the pieces they gathered until the Force guided them to a design that worked best for them. The Force led Eshreal to a design that would use her two crystals in one weapon and decided to use a modifier that would allow her to manipulate the size of her blade as she wasn't very tall at the time and still wanted to be able to use it.

Eshreal was still in the temple while the rest of her group headed back to the ship. Master Albedo was confident that Eshreal could find her way back to the ship as she was very good at using her force senses. Just as Eshreal was coming out of the secret entrance she heard blaster fire as well as her master yelling for the Padawan to run and hide while they took care of the First Order soldiers.

Eshreal ran and hid in a mostly destroyed CEC YT-2400 Light Freighter that she had discovered while exploring the planet. The other students were much closer and when the First Order overwhelmed their masters it wasn't long before they were killed too. Eshreal was the only one to survive by sheer dumb luck that the men never thought to check the damaged ship.

Eshreal didn't learn that she was the only survivor of her planet until a week later when she overheard two First Order soldier talking about the destruction of a planet from another galaxy with Jedi on it. She was orphaned, and no one was coming for her now. She figured her only hope was to repair the abandoned ship and escape as soon as possible.

Eshreal was rather adapt in using the Force abilities Tapas which allows a Jedi to draw on power from the Force to keep herself warm in the fridge Ilum environment and Plant Surge which allowed her to manipulate the growth of the plants that were her main food source. She slept in the ship as it was the one place she never saw any stormtroopers. The first thing she did was clean the ship from top to bottom. When she wasn't cleaning the ship, she was out scavenging what she could from the Jedi temple, working on her Jedi learning as well as building her light saber and just plain surviving.

When she did run into the rare Stormtrooper, she used the Jedi mind trick to make them forget they ever saw her. For the ones that weren't susceptible to the mind trick she did what she had to in order to survive. At times she felt guilty but then she remembered that the First Order had killed everyone she ever knew, and they were spreading their evil plague across the galaxy.

It took a year to fully clean the ship from top to bottom. After that she began repairing the ship with parts she scavenged from the First Order and the few wrecks she could find. 5 years into fixing the ship Eshreal found a damaged R2-V5 astromech with a purple dome trapped under rubble from ship. The damage wasn't half bad and soon she wasn't as alone now that she had a new friend.

Eshreal continued mastering the force techniques she learned from her master as well as a couple that came to her naturally. She practiced with her double-bladed spinning lightsaber daily until it became an extension of her being. Little by little Eshreal and the astromech repaired the ship together.

It took 8 more long years before the ship was in good enough shape to fly with full use of the navigation system thanks to V5 the hull was mostly intact and Eshreal had a feeling it would at least make the trip to the next closest planet where she would be able to get the other parts she needed. The very last two things she would need to escape Ilum were parts for the hyperdrive. Eshreal had no idea where she would get either of those, but she had faith that the Force would not keep her stranded on this planet forever.

It was 14 years before Eshreal saw another friendly life form.

Cade Hacduel

Cade was born on the planet Uvena Prime, a planet inhabited by a humanoid wolf species known as Shistavanens, 6 years after the battled of Endor. When Cade was only 3 years old his family moved to Uvena Prime's sister planet Uvena 3 to join with the other colonist settling there. From a young age Cade was taught to hunt using his heightened senses and was very good at taking down prey. His mother and father were very proud of their only son.

When Cade was 5 years old the First Order came to Uvena Prime. Chaos erupted when the stormtroopers began killing the adults and taking the children. Fortunately for young Cade he was out hunting on his own when the stormtroopers made it to his home. His father was killed trying to stand up to the First Order, but Cade's mother ran and made it a little way from their home.

Cade was in the bushes near the tree line when he witnessed a stormtrooper about to execute his mother. Cade was about to run out to his mother, but she shook her head to tell him to stay where he was. He reached out for his mother and miraculously she was pulled toward him. The Force had awakened in Cade but there was nothing he could do to save his mother. The man killed her, and Cade fainted.

When Cade woke up his home had been consumed by flames and his village was empty. With nothing keeping him there he set off for the other settlements. Each one he found had met the same fate as his own. There didn't seem to be anyone left on the planet. Cade was all alone.

He was able to survive by catching his own prey and taking shelter in a cave that he found. He hoped that someone had gotten a distress signal out and that they would be coming to save him soon. He figured someone from his planet would eventually come and check on the settlements at the very least. But no one ever came.

For a whole year Cade survived on his own. When someone did show up it wasn't who Cade was expecting. A female Mirialan by the name of Rhimar Ordi landed on the planet looking for someone to fix a piece of equipment she needed for the mission she was on as Uvena Prime and its sister planets were known for their technological advancements.

Cade saw the lights from her ship and came running. He was very disappointed and excited at the same time. He begged her to take him home but Rhimar informed him with a heavy heart that his planet was no longer there. The First Order had destroyed it along with several other planets. Cade was devastated.

Rhimar couldn't leave the poor child all alone and offered to bring him home with her. Cade didn't want to stay on the planet alone, so he went with her. She told him that she was Rhimar Ordi, bounty hunter for House Benelex. The news excited Cade but not as much as learning that he was indeed a wielder of the Force. Rhi couldn't train him in the ways of the Force as she was not Force sensitive, but she could tell because her species has a naturally strong connection to the world around them and could feel the Force in living things. Because of this she decided to raise Cade as her own.

Rhi took Cade back to House Benelex's headquarters on the planet Paqualis in the Paqualis system and vouched for him to Corvastan Benelex, the leader of House Benelex. Corvastan approved Cade based on Rhimar's amazing record as a bounty hunter for the Guild. Cade was too young to go on real missions with Rhimar, but she still felt it necessary to train him in every form of martial arts she knew as well as all forms of weapons training. In his spare time Cade loved spending time down in the guildhouse armory learning to and helping fix the damaged or broken equipment brought back by other guild members.

He spent 4 years observing others and going with Rhi on missions but staying on the ship. At the age of 10 Rhimar officially took Cade on as her apprentice and taught him the ropes of being a bounty hunter. During the 5 years that Cade traveled with Rhi as her apprentice as well as the first 3 years afterwards, Cade collected scraps of ancient Jedi texts and stories from throughout the galaxy.

He knew he was Force sensitive from a young age but had no way of honing his skills. He was only able to master the abilities that came naturally to him. That is what made him start collecting everything he could find about the Jedi and the Sith.

Cade quickly made a name for himself in the guild and by the age of 15 he an expert in hand to hand combat and an expert with any kind of weapon whether it had a blade or a trigger. Once he was allowed to start taking on his own contracts he vowed to get revenge on Snoke and the entire First Order for the genocide of his people and the murder of his parents. By the time he was 18 he had about 300,000 credits saved up from his numerous acquisitions.

Around the time he turned 18 he met his first true friend besides his surrogate mother, a Zabrak named Zer-o. He and Zer-o trained together in the Force and went on missions together. They were some of the fiercest warriors the Guild had ever seen and racked up the most confirmed bounties in a 5-year span in the Guild's history.

When they had amassed enough credits, they decided to go off on their own to try to formulate a plan to achieve their ultimate goal which was to take down the First Order. They went on missions and made enemies along the way, but they always got out of whatever sticky situation that they got themselves in.

Zer-o

Zer-o was born on the planet Dathomir in the Quelli sector inside the Outer Rim Territories 9 years after the battle of Endor. He was born to a nightsister named Megria and his father was an unknown nightbrother. Since the moment of his birth Zer-o's mother believed that her son was special and did not allow him to suffer the fate of most males on Dathomir which was to be trained to become a Sith Lord.

Instead she hid him in a cave on the outskirts of town and visited him often to train and teach him the ways of Dathomir. Since Zer-o was able to walk he was trained to be a warrior by his mother. She tested him both physically and mentally. He was intelligent as well as strong. Megria focused his training in the shadow killer's style, knowing that stealth would be his biggest survival tool.

On Zer-o's sixth birthday his mother witnessed the Force awaken in him when she saw him levitate a tree that had fallen in the swamps of Dathomir. By the time Zer-o was 10, he had not only mastered the pike, mace, spear, ax, sword, and chain-sickle. He had also master his home world's martial art K'THRI.

His mother was astounded at how fast he was able to learn new techniques and master them further fueling her belief that her son was chosen to walk a different path than those before him. Once Zer-o reached puberty at age 11, his mother started to teach him the teachings of the nightsisters and how to commune with the Winged Goddess and the Fanged God. This was absolutely forbidden and Megria knew that it would almost certainly lead to her death, but if her son could also learn and eventually master the Dathomir magic he would be an extremely powerful force to unleash upon the galaxy.

She also provided her son wit his own facial markings identifying him as an unparallel force to other Zabraks. Unknown to his mother, Zer-o had already started tapping into Dathomir's power and had gained the ability to commune with animals and plant life that lived on the planet using the ur-spirit and twin spirt. This meant that Zer-o was able to tap into Dathomir's life web by speaking to the spirits and had the ability to communicate with and control any creature or plant of any type.

His mother taught him from both the Book of Law and the Book of Shadows, feeling that her son needed to understand both light and dark were just two sides of the same coin. She wanted Zer-o to understand that this same theory applied to the Force. There was no dark or light, only the Force. He would either learn to use all of it or none of it.

A year into Zer-o's Force/magic training his mother's treachery was discovered by the nightsisters with the help of the First Order's Leader sensing a disturbance in the Force. A manhunt ensued ending in Megria's death, but not before she could get her son on to an unoccupied First Order ship. He was able to make it off of Dathomir.

All Zer-o had left were the books and vibroblade given to him by his mother. His ship eventually crash-landed on the forest planet Cholganna. He stayed on the planet honing his skill for the next two years.

During his second year on the planet Zer-o stumbled upon a Nexu cub whose mother had been killed by a larger predator. He later named her Shira and kept her as his companion. She was his first and only friend while there.

Now 14, Zer-o felt it was time to leave Cholganna and find the purpose his mother always talked about. So, he and Shira snuck aboard a trader ship to get off of the forest planet. Once they left the planet's orbit he stole one of their smaller drop ships.

Zer-o and Shira set off to explore the galaxy. He spent the next year wandering the universe, picking up various skills such as weaponsmithing and mechanics. Zer-o was interested in anything involving technology and would often take things apart without asking just to figure out how they worked.

One day he met a Shistavanen named Cade who was a bounty hunter. Since Zer-o had never really encountered people besides his mother they got off to a rough start but eventually became good friends. After helping Cade with a bounty, the 15-year-old was offered to join the guild which he readily accepted.

Cade's mentor Rhimar Ordi took Zer-o on as her second ever apprentice and trained him much the same way that she did Cade. The three of them went everywhere together and Cade shared all of his knowledge of Jedi and ways of the Force with Zer-o. The two of them trained together as much as they could, and Zer-o got the feeling that Rhi was glad that Cade had made such a good friend.

4 years into Zer-o's apprenticeship under Rhi, Zer-o and Cade thought themselves hotshots and went out on their own. While they were gone Rhimar was killed by the First Order. The boys were devastated and infuriated. They took personal time off from taking bounties, both stating that it just didn't feel the same without Rhi.

They took off on their own in a barrowed YT-1930 Transport ship with whatever equipment they needed. House Benelex let the boys go and told them that they were welcome to come home whenever they felt that they had gotten revenge for Rhimar's death. Their quest for vengeance always ended up getting them into trouble.

Arca Gearsky

Jeta is an Arkanian/Sephi hybrid born almost 120 years before the Battle of Endor on the planet Arkania. Before long he traveled to the Planet Kamino where he studied under Taun We who was the Project Coordinator of Arkanian Microtechnologies where he helped develop the clone armies that were so sought after at the time.

Jeta cloned himself several hundreds of times, each one imperfect in its own way. Some of them died in infancy, others barely made it to childhood and others still barely made it into their teens. Once he got the clones to survive into their twenties he went on to experiment more to prefect the clones further for personal use as well as for the Imperial Empire and later for the First Order. Arca Gearsky was the clone son of Jeta Gearsky born 11 years after the battle of Endor on the cloning planet Kamino.

Arca was the first and only clone to be born Force Sensitive and the only one that Jeta allowed to grow naturally. Jeta raised Arca from a baby though only told the young Arkanian/Sephi hybrid that Jeta was only his Master and close relative not his father. He explained their likeness away by saying they had strong genes. Jeta felt that the boy would work harder if he got no special treatment.

From a young age Jeta trained Arca in many forms of hand to hand combat and during the day Jeta would allow Arca to shadow him around the lab as he went about his work. Arca had all of the knowledge of Jeta and was considered a child prodigy and genius. He loved helping with the experiments and the various projects being done of Kamino.

Once Jeta felt the Force awaken in young Arca he knew Snoke would want him trained in the ways of the dark side. Jeta was also not in a position to refuse the First Order anything. So, when Snoke came to check on the makings of his clone army, he took time out to test young Arca's abilities and strength in the Force. He was impressed enough personally train him while there.

After a while Snoke left but Arca continued training in the ways of the Force and the dark side. He also began preforming experiments on himself and others in an attempt get stronger. His Force abilities grew as did the darkness planted there by Snoke.

Snoke corrupted Arca much more than Jeta had known. So, to counter the darkness growing in his clone son, he began teaching Arca everything he knew about the Jedi in secret. To cover his tracks, he trained Arca in the arts of diplomacy and espionage. No one questioned his training.

Arca was a natural master at precognition and often saw things before they happened. Because of this Arca was able to warn Jeta anytime they were about to be discovered or when Snoke was going to enter Arca's mind for their 'training' sessions. Arca didn't understand what was so wrong with understanding all sides of the Force as that seemed the only way to Master it.

26 years after the battle of Endor the Kaminaons who ran the cloning project recognized the genius of Jeta and promoted him to Project Coordinator in place of Taun We. Jeta and Arca were awarded many luxuries and the First Order became even more interested in the pair. Jeta didn't want his son being anymore involved with the First Order and began searching for a way to get his son away from Kamino and the First Order.

The opportunity came in the form of two bounty hunters who showed up on Kamino. They came to the planet under guise of chasing a bounty. Arca warned Jeta that the Shistavanen and Zabrak were really there to steal tech from the lab. Jeta sent his son to confront the thieves while he went and packed Arca's things.

When Arca confronted Cade and Zer-o, Cade offered Arca a rather large container of hyperfuel if he would let them go with the piece of tech that they stole. Arca offered to escort him back to their ship though he figured there was no way they were just traveling around with a large container of hyperfuel. Along the way someone noticed Cade carrying out the stolen tech and set off the alarm.

Arca led Cade and Zer-o to the hanger. Stormtroopers filled the hanger as Zer-o started their ship and Cade was trying to prevent Arca from getting on their ship. Suddenly Jeta appeared and all but shoved his clone onto Cade and Zer-o's ship. He pleaded with Cade to take his apprentice with them. Cade was about to refuse until Jeta said he was trying to get Arca away from the First Order.

Arca was confused as the stormtroopers yelled at Jeta to surrender and remove 'the clone' from the enemy ship. He held them off with a blaster. Zer-o got them out of there just as the stormtroopers shot and killed Jeta. The stormtroopers reported Arca's escape and the First Order began hunting the bounty hunter transport ship.

Neither Zer-o or Arca were happy about their new situation. Arca wanted to go back home but Cade informed him that they were looking for the Resistance so that they could help take down the First Order. Arca figured he could liberate his friends back on Kamino and stop the First Order and Snoke from killing anyone else.

…

Zer-o, Arca and Cade had been traveling and dodging the First Order for 2 months before they found themselves in the outer reaches of the Galaxy. They were fleeing from a First Order ship when they were shot down. The three began to panic as their ship began fall into the Orbit of a First Order controlled planet.

Eshreal and V5 were collecting scrap for random patchwork on the ship when she felt something pulling at her. She opened herself to the Force and felt 3 life forms rocketing toward Ilum. Something told her that they would need her help when they landed so she took off running with V5 rolling along behind her.

The YT-1930 Transport hurtled to the ground and crashed into the icy terrain. The outside peeled away as it slid along. Eshreal ran after it but then another ship descended onto the planet. She could tell that it was a First Order ship. Eshreal sent V5 to check on the life forms. The astromech beeped a long response before zipping over to the wreckage.

Zer-o was the first to crawl out of the front of the ship. He had a few minor cuts and scrapes but was otherwise unscathed. Eshreal's purple and white astromech beeped wildly at the Zabrak. He cocked his head but said nothing. Cade came out of a tear in the hull with Arca behind him. The three males turned just in time to the droid's owner shrug off her heavy cloak.

Eshreal pulled her double-bladed spinning lightsaber from her hip and activated it causing the silvery green and silvery blue blades to ignite from the black handle with gold rings around it through the outer ring where the steel blades raised up like teeth. The ship landed and 10 stormtroopers got off with their blasters raised. Eshreal's wings erupted from her back and she took flight.

The Stormtroopers hesitated for a second and she dove for them her blade cutting through two Stormtroopers easily. Over the years she had mastered her chosen lightsaber fighting style known as Atura and could preform the various leaps and flips easily thanks to her wings and ability to fly. She spun her blade taking out the stormtroopers with very leap. Soon she was the only one standing.

Arca, Cade and Zer-o looked on in amazement as she turned off the blades and her red, burgundy and tan wings folded away to nothing. She picked up her cloak and skipped back over to the wreckage of the YT-930 and began stripping away pieces of the hyperdrive. The men protested but Eshreal explained that they wouldn't be flying off of Ilum in their ship and she had a better ship.

Cade and Zer-o argued that they could just take the shuttle that the Stormtroopers had arrived on but Arca informed them that there mostly like was a built-in tracker and the First Order would just find them again immediately. Eshreal told them that she had a ship and that's what she needed the parts for. She also informed them that they might want to check out the collection of Kyber crystals that she had collected over the years. She had a feeling that they would be needing their own lightsabers in the weeks to come.

So, while she reconstructed the hyperdrive on the YT-2400, the guys worked on their own lightsabers with the help from Eshreal. Arca decided not to look for a Kyber Crystal as he did not think he needed a lightsaber. Zer-o created a lightsaber that fit into a blaster pistol attachment with a purple blade. Cade created a rather simple looking lightsaber with a yellow blade with a blue core though he kept insisting that it wasn't finished.

Unfortunately, they didn't have time to wait any longer as a stardestroyer dropped out of hyperspace two days after they had arrived. Eshreal finished up the hyperdrive with the help of V5 and they were able to escape into hyperspace before the stardestroyer could even get their TIE fighters out of the hanger. The guys were impressed with Eshreal's flying skills.

Now that they were relatively safe Eshreal asked what they did to have the First Order hunting them so vehemently. They explained that not only had aided the escape of a First Order clone, which Arca violently disagreed to being from a secure facility, they had also stolen a bunch of tech from them. Eshreal didn't have a problem with that. In fact, she felt that her new friends were exciting, and she was grateful to have someone real to talk to.

…

The four of them traveled around the Outer Rim avoiding the First Order as much as they could while they learned about the Force by pooling their information between the four of them. Before they knew it, years had passed, and word had spread about Han Solos death, Rey cutting down Kylo Ren in the forest on StarKiller Base, the destruction of the Hosnian system, and even Snoke's murder by Rey and Luke Skywalker's fade into the Force.

After what was left of the Resistance fled Crait in the Millennium Falcon, the group began collectively searching for light Force user throughout the galaxy. They were hoping to learn from Rey as it was rumored that she had been taught by Master Skywalker before killing Supreme Leader Snoke. It wasn't long before they heard rumors about Rey and her friends liberating some rebels from a planet of giants with led to the capture of General Hux.

The thing that actually led the group to the Resistance was when the group were out looking for something. It wasn't until they followed one of the scouts back to a planet in the Amara System called Olara that they figured out why.

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Please review and let me know what you think. And please check out my other story Two Parts of a Whole: a Reylo Star Wars Story.


	2. Chapter 1: Rey is Missing

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FOR Two Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE READ CHAPTER 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

A/N: The next couple chapters will fill in what was going on with the Resistance while Rey was away with the Resistance as well as allow me and my friends to be Star Wars Characters. Enjoy and RandR!

Disclaimer: I do now own Star Wars or the amazing characters.

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Chapter 1: Rey Missing?

"So how do we do this," Zer-o asked.

"We walk up to the front gate and tell 'em we wanna fight the First Order," Eshreal said excitedly.

She was practically bouncing up and down in the pilot's seat as she steered the light freighter over the green planet known as Olara. The three males watched their captain with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. She was too busy giggling to actually help them come up with a real plan.

Over the last couple years, they had gotten used to her child like demeanor, but it could still be rather annoying at times. Especially when they really needed to be serious. Eshreal had ruined more than a few of their plans but then again so had Zer-o and Arca.

Cade was the most serious out of the group and though he was a year younger than Eshreal, he was often the one who had to talk sense into the rest of the group. Eshreal was the captain because she was the oldest and she had pretty much rebuilt the entire ship herself. Plus she seemed to be the most skilled pilot to have only ever been on two planets in her entire life.

"I would prefer not to be thrown in a cell or killed on sight," Cade said in his sophisticated tone.

"I agree with Cade," Arca said.

"Well since none of you like my suggestion, I expect one of you to have a viable plan," Eshreal said as she searched the lush green planet for a place to land.

"We could, no we should contact them first. Explain who we are. They might be grateful once we tell them about the scout ships we took out on the way here," Zer-o said, and the other males nodded.

"So, what? Should we just hang here in the air until you can get a hold of them," Essie asked.

Cade, Zer-o and Arca exchanged a glance and then nodded.

"Fine but don't blame me if we get shot out of the sky," she said and folded her arms over her generous chest.

She was pouting. Her three male shipmates could never understand how someone who looked like her could act like such a child so much of the time. When things didn't go her way Eshreal, or Essie as she preferred to be called, would lock herself in her room with her plants and her droid. It would be left up to Zer-o or Cade to take up piloting the ship until she was ready to be social again.

"Essie, you and Gear over there can waltz right up to the gate, you both look relatively human. Zer, on the other hand could easily be mistaken for the most infamous Zabrak of all time, Darth Maul. And I'm a wolf man. Let's contact them from a safe distance and then we can go down there," Cade reasoned.

"Fine," she said. "V5, take over for me buddy," she said to the droid who whistled a response.

Cade sat at the console and began trying to reach the base that Eshreal had flown over 30 minutes ago. It didn't take long before a woman with pale blonde hair and brown, stern eyes appeared on the screen in front of them.

"This is the Resistance ally channel. State your business quickly or be shot out of the sky," the woman said.

"Whoa, whoa, pretty lady, we are friendlies requesting permission to land," Cade said trying to use his charm to appeal to her.

She blushed and looked off screen before asking, "How do we know we can trust you? And my name is Lieutenant Connix, not pretty lady."

"Because we just blew up 6 First Order scout ships in this system looking for you. If we weren't friendly the First Order would have been knocking at your door instead of us," Cade said.

"We don't have any reports of scout ships," Connix said with a frowned.

"Obviously because we took them out before they would even set off your radar," Zer-o said.

Connix looked startled to see the tall man with the ebony skin and bright red marking that covered most of his face.

"They're gonna send us away, Zer," Eshreal said and took Zer-o's arm in her grip.

Zer-o bristle at the sound of his nickname leaving the childish Curian woman's lips. He still wasn't used to anyone but Cade calling him anything other than the name his mother had given him. Arca crossed his corded arms over his chest and moved closer to the screen.

"No, they won't," he said in his gruff voice.

Eshreal looked over at the Arkanian/Sephi hybrid with hope in her light brown eyes.

"And how do you know that," Zer-o asked.

"I've gone over the probability numerous times. They need us. Once Force user won't be enough to stop the evil I have seen joining the First Order," Arca said in an ominous tone.

Arca or Gear as he preferred to be called, had the most powerful Precog ability that anyone in the group had ever seen or heard about. He had been going on for the last couple of weeks about this Evil being that wanted to take over the galaxy. So, if he said that the Resistance was going to take them in, they probably were.

"General Leia Organa would like to speak to the Captain of your ship," the woman said.

The three male's faces fell. Why would General Organa want to talk to Eshreal? The little moron would probably say something to upset the General and then they really would be sent away or blown up.

Cade reached back and pulled Eshreal closer to the monitor. She nervously she fussed with her burgundy bangs and her black antenna curled upward, another sure sign that she nervous. Eshreal usually hid any sign that she was anything other than human. So, for her to allow her antenna to show and her not to cover them right away proved she was two seconds from a full-on panic attack.

30 seconds later General Organa appeared on the screen and Eshreal's breath hitched in her chest. Cade rolled his eyes. Sure, the woman on the screen was an impressive war general but she was no Master Luke Skywalker. Zer-o agreed with him that anyone who would choose to squander their connection to the Force could never be his idol. Being gifted with the Force meant being gifted with the ability to help everyone around you in ways that normal beings couldn't even comprehend. There was so much more good she could have done as a Jedi.

The older woman had brown eyes that could have been kind and motherly but even through the screen the small group of Force users could see that they were hard and analyzing. She looked at Eshreal for a second before her eyes flicked to the others. She took in each of their faces and passed over their presences in the Force.

"As the captain of your ship do you swear that you do not intend to harm anyone in this base," Leia asked in a stern voice.

Eshreal glanced at her crew mates and then turned back to the screen. She smiled nervously and said, "I do. We just wanna help you fight the First Order."

"Good enough for me, General," a confident male voice said from somewhere off screen.

Leia glanced behind her as Commander Poe came into view. The cocky young man leaned over Leia's shoulder so that he could see that others. He looked mildly impressed.

"Well, you lot heard the man. Set your ship down a mile or so from the front of the base. I will send someone out to meet you," Leia said, sounding a bit wary.

The transmission was cut suddenly. Zer-o and Cade let out a sigh of relief. Gear just stood in the back watching. Eshreal on the other hand ran back and forth screaming yay. Luckily for them V5 was busy landing the ship for her.

"Are you all prepared for this," Cade asked.

"Of course. This is what we have been searching for all our lives. We can learn to be Jedi and work to take down the First Order. We can help protect people so no more children end up like us," Zer-o said with excitement shining in his orange eyes.

"General Organa could have turned us away or used the base's defense system to blow us out of the sky. We have nothing to fear but I would suggest leaving your weapons on the ship. At least until after we formally introduce ourselves," Gear barked out.

No one argued so when V5 landed the YT-2400 which Cade has taken to calling the SC Starfall, everyone left their weapons and any tech that could have been misinterpreted as going to be used for nefarious purposes on the ship, locked away in the secret panels under the floor. Eshreal left her long heavy cloak in her room as Olara was hot and humid. Zer-o made sure to feed Shira and leave water for her. Cade locked his room up with his various security measures so that none of his tech could come up missing. Gear donned his lightweight cloak and goggles, making sure to disguise his face. Then they set out together.

Eshreal led the group, skipping and jumping the whole way. She was so cheery that it was almost annoying. Cade and Zer-o walked side by side not too far behind her. Zer-o glanced around noting that the environment would be perfect for training with Shira. Gear followed behind the group keeping an eye on their backs as well as watching to make sure nothing happened to the Starfall as they walked away.

When the members of the Last Hope reached the top of the next hill, they came to the clearing where the gate surrounding the base began. Standing just inside the gate were Commander Poe Dameron, First Order defector Finn and Mechanic Rose Tico. They were standing around talking like this was just a lunch break or something.

Eshreal ran up the gate and then ran back to her crewmates. She was grinning so hard that she thought her face was going to start hurting. Just as she was about to bound back to the gate for the third time Cade grabbed her by the arm.

"Hey, time to act like an adult. The Resistance won't take us seriously if you go full fangirl on em," he admonished.

"Huh," Eshreal said staring up the Shistavanen. She smiled at him and said, "Okay. I will try to hide my excitement. At least until we meet Rey and then I can't make any promises."

Zer-o groaned. He knew that was the best they would ever get out of her. He was just ready to meet Rey, so he could start training with her.

The gates swung open, but Poe held up a hand before any of them could go inside.

"I'm afraid we have to search you guys for weapons before we can let you in. We have sick and injured people inside this base and we can't have you wandering around armed until we get to know ya," Poe said, flashing a charming smile at Eshreal who blushed so hard her face was almost the same shade of red as her hair.

Cade shot Zer-o a look and the Zabrak shrugged his shoulders. Cade grinned a wolfish grin. He stepped up to Poe.

He waved his clawed hand in front his face and said, "You do not want to search us. You will let us pass."

Essie, Zer and Gear all watched the exchange with curious faces. Finn and Rose tried to keep straight faces as Poe pretended to fall under the Jedi mind trick but in the end all three of them busted out laughing. Cade stepped back, and a slight growl escaped his lips before he caught himself.

"Not on your life, kid. I've had real Force users rooting around in my head and you just don't compare. Now my buddies and I are gonna search you and then we'll escort you in to see the General," Poe said after he finished laughing.

"63rd attempt at the mind trick. 49th unsuccessful attempt," Gear said, entering it in the data pad that he carried with him at all times.

"Shut up, Gear. I hate when you do that," Cade snapped back.

"Keeping track of your progress is beneficial to my research and may very well help us in the long run," Gear said as though it were the simplest explanation.

"No one cares about your stupid science experiments, Gear," Zer-o said with a grimace.

"Guys, lets just get this over with," Eshreal said and smiled as Rose came over to check her.

It was obvious from the tightness of the black backless, sleeveless shirt and black stretch pants that she didn't have any weapons, but Rose still did a thorough check. When she didn't find anything, Rose smiled at Eshreal and held her hand out.

"Hi, my name is Rose Tico," she said with a wide smile.

"My name is Eshreal Mecca, but my friends call me Essie. It's very nice to meet you Rose," Essie said.

The two women shook hands as the boys grumbled their way through the search. After they were done Poe led the group into the base. He explained that the newest recruits to the Resistance came from a planet called Jasmenerth which was inhabited by giants. Among them were slaves that had escaped with the Rebels when they left to join the Resistance.

Cade was scoping the place out noting how very little tech the base had and making improvements in his head. Zer-o was barely restraining himself from grabbing a bunch of weapons and taking them apart. Gear looked bored at the walkthrough as there was very little to do with science as they walked through the long halls. Eshreal was more interested in people and introduced herself to everyone they came across.

After about 10 minutes of walking they were finally at the general's office. Poe opened the door and waltzed inside without knocking. Finn indicated for them to follow and Eshreal was the first one inside. She took a seat right across from Leia and the others filled in around her. Leia nodded, and Finn closed the door before heading off.

Eshreal was bouncing in her seat again. Zer-o smacked her arm and she settled down some before he went to stand stoically in the back next to Cade. As before the General looked over the group with stern eyes. Arca squirmed under her gaze.

"Hello, General Organa my name is Eshreal Mecca of the planet Quycury, and these are my crewmate Cade Hacduel of the planet Uvena Prime, Zer-o of the planet Dathomir and Arca Gearsky of the planet Kamino," Eshreal said introducing everyone.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. So, what brings you young people here? You can't just want to fight the First Order. There isn't much of that going on, on a large scale that is. So, there must be something else," she said.

The four looked at each other.

"We want to train under Rey as she was the last student taught by Master Skywalker and she defeated Supreme Leader Snoke, the man who ordered the destruction of my and Cade's home planets, whose meddling led to Zer's mother's murder, whose men murdered Gear's master," Eshreal said.

Leia looked impressed.

"Well I knew it couldn't be a coincidence that more Force users have showed up on my doorstep," General Leia Organa-Solo said.

The group was shocked.

"More Force users," Zer-o asked as he was the first one to find his voice.

Leia nodded and said, "Yes more. When Rey and the others rescued the Rebels from Jasmenerth a young Twi'lek slave woman escaped with them. It was only recently that she revealed that not only was she Force Sensitive, which I was able to detect but also that she was able to wield the Force too." There was a knock on the door and Leia called, "Come in."

The door opened and in walked a beautiful rose-pink skinned Twi'lek woman walked in. She was scantily clad and Zer-o's eyes tracked her as she moved through the room. She moved to stand next to Leia.

"Greetings, my name is Talik'Ivaddi or Taliki Vaddi in basic," she said and devilishly sweet voice.

"Whoa you can wield the Force, too," Eshreal asked excitedly.

She wondered if Taliki would like to join their crew. Even if they joined the Resistance she knew Cade and Zer-o still planned to do missions for House Benelex and there was no way she or Gear were missing out of whatever they did. It would be nice to have another girl on the ship as long as General Leia and the others didn't need her.

"Yes, I can," Taliki and the data pad on Leia's desk began to float.

The men all gawked but Eshreal just smiled at the beautiful woman.

"That makes 5 of you here on the base now. As far as we know you 5 plus Rey and Kylo Ren are the only Force users left out there. Unfortunately, you won't be able to train with Rey," Leia and Eshreal's face almost fell to the floor.

"What!? Why not," Arca demanded, getting to his feet immediately.

Poe and Taliki moved to stand in front of the older woman. Leia sighed heavily. She put a hand on Poe's arm and he moved away.

"You can't train with Rey because she is missing," Leia said.

"REY IS MISSING," Eshreal, Cade, Zer-o and Arca all exclaimed at the same time…


	3. Chapter 2: Mission 1

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FOR Two Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE READ CHAPTER 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

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This story is a self insert so please be kind! Also RandR!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Characters!

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Chapter 2:

"Rey isn't missing, Leia. That monster took her," Poe said, now angry.

"What," Cade asked again.

Poe began pacing behind Leia's chair. Taliki watched his movements with a bored expression on her face. Leia looked so much older than she had a moment ago. Poe began ranting about the Resistance capturing Hux, Leia having the idea to trade him for ships, Kylo Ren agreeing and then double crossing them before killing one of their new members and kidnapping Rey.

Eshreal's mouth was hanging open and Cade put his hand on her shoulder. Gear just stood there gaping at Leia and Poe. Zer-o's expression had hardened. Taliki looked desperately uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"You people let Kylo Ren kidnap the only light Force user left," Eshreal said in a horrified whisper.

"Where are we on a rescue plan," Cade asked.

If they didn't have one, Cade was sure he, Gear and Poe could come up with a decent one fairly quickly. The sooner they rescued Rey, the sooner they could all begin training. Plus taking her back from the First Order would be a huge victory for the Resistance.

"That's easier said than done. We have no clue of where we would even begin looking for her. Don't think we haven't attempted to but until we have some clue as to where to look we can only pray to whatever gods you want that she is still alive and he isn't torturing her," Poe said.

Zer-o couldn't believe the man had let that come out of his mouth. Rey of Jakku was the last Jedi. She was the hope of the Resistance and they were just sitting around like she was on vacation and hadn't been kidnapped by the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Zer-o found himself getting angry.

Cade looked over at his brother and touched his arm.

"You need to calm down, Zer. We will get Rey back one way or another," Cade said and he sounded sure even to himself. Though he wasn't really sure, yet.

"How long has she been missing? Retrieving kidnap victims are House Benelex's specialty. We could contact our people back home and see if they know anything," Zer-o suggested.

Leia, Poe and Taliki all looked surprised. They had no clue that group in front of them were bounty hunters and Leia said as much.

"Well, only Cade and Zer and bounty hunters. I was learning to be Jedi before my entire species was wiped out and I was stranded on Ilum for 14 years. Gear is a scientist and was training in the ways of the Jedi and the Sith before Stormtroopers killed his master," Eshreal said leaving out the part where Gear was trained by Snoke.

"So two of you have formal training," Taliki asked, looking impressed.

"I only had 4 years of training before my master was killed. I know the basics but that's it," Essie said.

"I was trained more in the ways of the dark side, but my Master snuck in regular Jedi training, too," Gear answered.

"I don't have formal Jedi training but my mother was a Nightsister and she taught me everything there is to know about Dathomir's magic and a surprising amount correlates with the teachings of the Jedi," Zer-o said.

The beautiful Twi'lek turned to Cade expectantly.

He huffed and then said, "I don't have any formal training. I've just been collecting Holocrons since I was 10 years old. I know a lot about the Jedi but not enough to train myself."

Taliki nodded in agreement, "That's more than I can say. Everything I know about the Force, I thought myself."

"Well as soon as Rey gets back she can start training you guys the way Luke Skywalker trained her," Poe said with a bright smile.

"Cool! I can't wait," Essie said with a brilliant smile on her face.

Suddenly it was announced that Leia had an incoming communication.

"Poe, Taliki, why don't you show our new members to some open rooms? I'll send for you when I need you, Poe," Leia said dismissing the group.

Poe and Taliki led the ground through the long winding halls of the Olara base. Most of the rooms were occupied with all species of aliens, though most appeared to be Jasmenerthians. As she did before, Essie tried to stop and talk to every new person they came in contact with. It got so bad that Cade and Zer-o kept a tight grip on her arms until they got to one of the dorms that were only half full.

"You guys are welcome to claim any open room," Poe said with a smile.

"My room is right over there," Taliki said pointing to a closed door near the end of the corridor.

Eshreal immediately claimed the room next to hers. The other members of the group went and checked out the other open rooms. Cade and Zer-o chose rooms right across from each other while Arca chose a room closer to the balcony on the other end of the hall. As Taliki took them to get towels and linen for their rooms, Eshreal began telling Taliki about the adventures the 4 of them had gone on and by the time the 4 rooms were fully stocked Taliki had agreed to join them the next time they headed out.

"So, Taliki how did you end up joining the rebels fleeing Jasmenerth," Zer asked, speaking to the beautiful pink woman for the first time.

Taliki blushed furiously for a second. Both from embarrassment and something she couldn't quiet explain. She'd never met a Zabrak in person before and there was an air about of power about him.

"I was sold into slavery very young and passed from master to master until I was sold to a man named Nak'tul who owned an exotic show there. When I was a child I just took tickets but Nak'tul was a cruel man and when I turned 15 he forced me to dance with an electric whip for the rich people who visited the show when purchasing their weapons and armor on the planet. It wasn't until later that I learned that I was supposed to hurt myself. It was part of the entertainment," she said and paused for a second as she remembered the first time she felt the sting of the whip biting into her tender flesh. "For years I suffered preforming that dance until I learned to control the whip after I felt the Force awaken in me. When I learned that Rey and her band of Rebels were coming to rescue the people who didn't want to serve the First Order I knew it was the perfect time to escape. Nuk'tul didn't suspect anything when I took the whip and went for a walk," Taliki said with pride as she ran her fingers lightly over the whip.

"Cruel bastard! We should go back there and kick his ass," Cade growled, his normally sophisticated tone lost in his anger.

"Just say the word and he can go back and free the rest of the slaves and make sure he never harms anyone ever again," Zer-o vowed.

Taliki just smiled and shook her head at them.

"There is no need for that. I am sure he will get what's coming to him for all the pain he has caused," she said confidently.

"Don't worry you get used to how dramatic they can be," Essie said.

"I'm not sure that's true," Gear grumbled.

"No one asked you clone," Zer hissed back.

Gear cried, "I am not a clone."

"Who's a clone," Poe asked finally interested in the conversation.

"Gear," Essie exclaimed gleefully and collapsed into a fit of giggles as the much younger man grew red in the face.

"I am not a clone," he reiterated in a scornful way.

"It's just funny that there were a bunch of guys who looked suspiciously like you on Kamino, a planet known for producing clones," Cade said staring at Gear.

Gear's face got even redder. Zer-o could barely contain his laughter. Eshreal was still laughing uncontrollably. Taliki was staring at the group like they were the strangest thing, but Poe had picked up on the teasing nature of the conversation and shared a chuckle or two with the younger people.

Poe and Taliki were just about to show the newbies the common area when Kaydel came running down the long hallway toward them.

"Hey Connix, what's up," Poe asked.

She huffed, "Leia wants you back in her office; ASAP. And she said bring the newbies too!"

"Okay," Poe said and Kaydel hurried off ahead of them.

The group headed back down the lift to Leia's office. Kaydel was standing by Leia's side waiting for them as though she had run just to get back before them. Leia's face was even more serious than before.

"We just got a distress call. A group of rebels on their way here were captured and taken to the First Order controlled planet Vardos in the Jinata system," Leia said.

"What," Poe exclaimed.

"Furthermore, they have the location of our meeting place which could lead the First Order right to our doorstep. Poe, I need you to put together a team to go and save them," Leia said.

"You want me to take the newbies with me," Poe asked expectantly.

Cade, Zer-o, Gear, and Eshreal all perked up. Leia looked over the 4 of them, noting that three of them had lightsabers.

"General Organa, we have all been fighting the First Order all of our lives," Cade started.

"Well most of us," Zer-o said, not wanting to miss out on another opportunity to get a dig in at Gear, who blushed so furiously that Eshreal thought he was going to pass out.

"Stop it, Zer," Eshreal said, being completely serious for the first time, maybe ever. "People's lives are on the line. This isn't the time for games. General Organa, I am confident my team can bring your people home without you risking any more lives," she said, her usual child-like demeanor gone.

Cade, Zer-o and Gear stared at her as though they had never seen her before. She had never been so serious; not when they were surrounded by Stormtroopers, fighting their way out of some crazy situation, and not when she was flying through some crazy asteroid belt with them all clinging to their seats with their lives flashing before their eyes. Apparently, she only got serious when it was other people on the line.

"Gear, can you tell if we'll be successful or not," Cade asked.

Everyone's eyes went to the man still hidden under his goggles and hooded cloak. He stood there silently for a few seconds and his friends watched him intently. Poe, Taliki and Leia watched it all with curiosity.

"The darkness clouds things," he said finally.

"Ours or there's," Zer-o asked, cryptically.

"Can't say, but if Eshreal thinks we can do it. We can do it," Gear said.

"So, what do you say General," Cade asked.

Leia looked to Poe who was watching the group with intensity. As if he felt the older woman staring at him, he turned back to her. They exchanged a glance that spoke of the years they'd spent together.

"Well, we trusted them enough to let them in the base, I suppose we don't really have a choice but to let them prove that they are worthy of our trust. I still think I should go along," Poe suggested.

Leia sighed warily. "If you think it's best. Don't do anything foolish. There are so few of our leadership left that if something happened to you I don't know who would take up this fight after I'm gone," Leia said sounding like someone's mother.

"General, we will do our damnedest to make sure that Commander Dameron makes it back safely," Cade vowed and everyone else nodded.

"General Leia, I would like to accompany Eshreal and the others on this mission," Taliki said suddenly, surprising everyone except Leia and Eshreal.

"I figured you would. The 5 of you fit together well," Leia said with a gentle smile.

With that Poe led the group of Force Users to the living area where Poe found Rose and Finn. Once Poe explained the situation Finn and Rose were quick to want to join in but after a bit of arguing they finally agreed to stay behind and watch over Leia and the others. Then Poe and Taliki went to their sleeping quarters to collect their things including Poe's droid BB-8.

Finally, they were ready to go. Cade led the way back to the Starfall. Poe was impressed with their ship and Eshreal gleefully explained that she had almost totally rebuilt the Light Freighter all by herself. Zer-o showed them to the open rooms on the ship as Eshreal and V5 entered the coordinates for Vardos.

The little droid beeped a greeting to the two new organics from near Eshreal's pilots chair. Poe's own Astromech BB-8 rolled over to V5 and the two started up a conversation in droid that only Eshreal and Poe seemed to fully understand.

Taliki wandered around the Freighter admiring all of the beautiful plants that seemed to be growing of their own accord. When she commented on them Zer-o informed her that the plants grew as Eshreal willed them to because the pollen created by the flowers was a Curian's main food source. She was doubly impressed at that.

The group spent the first 24 hours of the trip getting to know each other better. Poe told everyone about his resistance fighter parents and how he joined the Resistance immediately following their deaths. Eshreal told Poe and Taliki all about her home planet of Quycury and her time on Ilum. Cade told them about growing up as a bounty hunter. Zer-o told them about growing up on Dathomir and then spending time all alone before joining up with Cade.

Gear was the only one who remained quiet. Essie explained that he wasn't comfortable talking about his past. No one pushed him on it, but Cade and Zer-o made several clone jokes that made the younger man lock himself in his quarters. Eshreal also explained that this was the usual dynamic of their little group.

When they were a little less than 3 hours away from Vardos Poe called everyone into the living area of the Starfall to discuss their plan.

"This is everything we know about the base Evanna and the others were taken to," Poe said and produced the blueprints of the First Order Vardos base. "The planet is still in a state of rebellion with only certain parts of it remaining under First Order control. Out of the many territories it is most likely that the captured Rebels were taken to this base here. The base is run by clones and a few high ranking First Order officers," Poe said pointing to spot that lit up.

"Any ideas on how to get in," Taliki asked, running her fingers over her whip.

"This is usually when Gear would come in handy, but he still hasn't come out of his room. If we could get one of the outfits that the clone soldiers wear we could send him in with no trouble," Cade said.

"I'll go and get the miserable clone bastard. The least he can do is actually help instead of eating up all of our food and breathing up all our air," Zer said heading off for that part of the ship.

"Hey, no matter what you hear next do not be alarmed," Essie warned just as the sounds of yelling and fighting could be heard.

While they waited Poe and the others came up with something like a plan. After a few minutes Gear and Zer came back down the hall. Both males looked pissy, but neither said anything.

"So, we're gonna land in rebel territory and Eshreal and Cade are gonna scout out the base to locate a clone soldier. Once the clone is located, Taliki will incapacitate him and take his uniform. Gear, that's where you come in. Once you're in uniform you can bring us in as captives," Poe said.

"That's a fine plan but Commander Dameron I think you should wait on the ship. You are far too valuable and recognizable as one of the 3 people able to escape the First Order. Besides we're gonna be coming outta there hot so we'll need you here ready to take off as soon as we're all on board," Gear said.

The crew agreed.

Once they landed on Vardos, Cade gathered motion senses, arakyds moon moth recording device and an individual field disruptor and was ready to go. Eshreal took a couple of her vines and willed them around her wrists like bracelets and unfurled her wings from the tattoo on her back. Poe and Taliki just about fainted as the young woman sprouted burgundy, red and sepia wings and took flight from the back of the ship and Cade took off on all fours.

"A butterfly woman and a wolfman? I thought I'd seen everything," Poe exclaimed.

"Well she did say that her people were like humanoid insects, I'm not surprised and Shistavanens are faster and stealthier on all fours," Taliki said.

"Yeah but hearing about it and seeing it are two totally different things," Gear said, and Poe nodded in agreement.

Eshreal took to the night sky, glad that it was cloudy enough to make the night seem darker; it made it easier to hide her presence. She loved feeling the air on her wings and through her hair so much that for a second, she forgot what she was supposed to be doing. When she did remember the mission she flew over the building a few times, noting any single guards walking by themselves and communicated them to Cade.

Cade moved through the wild grass that surrounded the base toward the guards that Eshreal pointed out until he found the right one. He was stationed in a guard box and was loudly complaining about being bored. He was the perfect mark and relayed it to Eshreal who returned to the ship to tell Taliki.

"Are you sure you're up to this," Poe asked the Twi'lek.

"Of course, seducing a man is simple work," Taliki said with a wink.

She walked the short distance to where the guard was stationed pretending to panic.

The guard who was a slightly older duplicate of Gear jumped to attention as the beautiful young Twi'lek came running toward the tiny guard post. He aimed his blaster at the young woman just to be cautious. Taliki was rambling in Twi'lek, exclaiming that she'd been attacked.

"Slow, down pretty lady. Do you speak basic," he asked.

Taliki moved around the man until she could see what was all inside of the Guard Box. There were monitors watching the entrance to the base closest to the box as well as the end of the very long road leading away from the base. None of the monitors showed feeds from other spots on the base so Taliki figured none of the other four guard boxes would have feeds for this one.

"I was attacked by some rebels not too far from here, sir. I need help," Taliki said.

The man startled. "Rebels? Where," he asked.

Taliki pointed in the direction she had come from.

"Stay here ma'am. I'll go check it out," the foolish clone said, aiming his blaster in the direction that she had pointed and heading off into the darkness.

Taliki grabbed his badge from the console and followed behind him after a few seconds. She clubbed him over the head once they were out of range of the cameras. The man went down easily. Liki signaled the others and they made their way over to where she was hiding with the man.

Gear got changed into his uniform while Eshreal used a piece of one of her vines to tie the man up. Taliki was amazed as the small piece of vine grew until it was long enough to successfully hog-tie the man. When Gear came back he had discovered a hitch in their plan.

"There are only 3 pairs of handcuffs," he said.

"Do you think they would accept that Josiah invited me in to take down a report," Taliki asked coming up with a way to smuggle herself inside.

"That could work," Gear said.

"That has to work," Zer-o corrected.

"If it doesn't I can always use the mind trick," Eshreal said, helpfully.

"Eshreal's record: 125 Jedi mind trick attempts. 119 successful, 6 unsuccessful," Gear reported and Cade shot him an unfriendly look.

"Don't start, clone," Cade growled.

"Guys we don't have time for this," Poe reminded them and everyone got back to business.

Poe helped Taliki and Gear get everyone into their cuffs before heading back to the ship. Taliki pinned Josiah's badge onto Gear and then the group of five headed toward the base. Cade, Zer-o and Eshreal made sure that their lightsabers were well hidden. Just as Taliki suspected, one scan of the badge and they were inside. Few people took notice of the group until they got to the center of a circular hallway where there were high ranking officers sitting at a circular desk.

"Hey Josiah, what's this," one of the men in black asked.

"These so called rebels attacked this young Twi'lek woman. Luckily I was able to apprehend them. I'm gonna take them down to the detention level and then I'll take her statement," Gear said doing an almost spot on impression of the real Josiah.

"Yeah, those tail heads always give the best 'statements'," one of the other men said with enough emphasis on the word to know that he meant something else entirely.

Gear just laughed it off and led Taliki and the others on to the lift that would take them down to the cells.

"Before we leave, I plan on relieving those men of their most prized body parts," Eshreal vowed.

"Not if I get to them first," Zer-o said in a low voice.

Taliki just stood there as though she were unaffected by anything those men had said. After all she had heard worse during her time as a slave.

"Let's just focus on rescuing our people before you two go off laying waste to things," Cade suggested.

The doors to the lift opened to another round hallway with a desk in the center. Luckily there was only one man seated behind it and he looked as though he was two seconds away from falling asleep. Gear stepped out of the lift with Taliki at his side and Zer-o, Cade and Eshreal in front of him.

"Josiah, what are you doing leaving your post," the man snapped.

"Caught these rebels trying to attack this Twi'lek. Gary and Thomas told me to lock 'em up before getting a statement," Gear said adding a little more to the story so that the officer would be less likely to question it.

"Fine, you can stash them in the holding cell with the other rebels waiting for Hux to come interrogate them," the guy said and nodded down the hallway behind the desk.

"Thanks. Will you watch her while I throw them in," Gear asked and the man nodded.

Eshreal and Taliki exchanged a glance and Taliki knew that as soon as this man pressed the button to open the cell she would have to knock him out like she'd done the real Josiah. Taliki watched the others disappear around the desk.

"You're one fine tail head, lady. Maybe after Josiah is done with you, you can come keep me company," the vile male hissed.

Taliki counted to 10 as she waited for the man to see Gear and the others approach the cell so he could open it but he was too busy objectifying her. She gave the man a death stare until he turned his attention back to the monitors in front of him. He pressed the button and a loud buzzing noise filled the detention level. The man took his eyes off of the monitor as Eshreal and the others entered the cell and ditched their cuffs. Gear, waved at the camera and Taliki knew that was her signal.

She took the handle of her whip in her hand and brought it down as hard as she could. The man was out like a light before Taliki could rip his badge from his chest. She figured you never know when you might run into a locked door that a guard might not have access too but an officer definitely would.

Cade and the others helped Evanna and her four children ranging from age 18 to 6 out of their own cuffs. The older woman kept thanking the rebels even as they warned her that they had to get out of there as soon and as quietly as possible. Eshreal and Cade took up the rear while Zer-o and Gear led the way back to the lift where they rejoined Taliki.

"I checked the cameras and it looks like the way we came in is still clear. It's just a matter of getting passed Gary and Thomas," she warned.

"Gear, Liki, I want you two to lead the hostages out of here. Essie, Cade and I can handle anyone coming after you all," Zer said and everyone nodded.

"Let me play with Gary and Thomas. I promise I won't be longer than five minutes," Eshreal pled.

"No, we stick together," Cade shut that down right away and Eshreal pouted about it but didn't argue.

When the lift stopped Eshreal and Cade stepped out first with their lightsabers held at the ready. Gary and Thomas' mouths dropped when their eyes landed on them, but before they could do anything, Eshreal threw a vine at one which immediately began growing around Gary's body and Cade jumped on the other man with his claws digging into his chest.

Eshreal's vine had the man totally incapacitated. The one that Cade had jumped on had hit his head and was currently unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Zer-o and Evanna were carrying the smaller children with Gear and the older children leading the way. Cade was quick to follow but Eshreal saw a guard talking into his com device. Suddenly an alarm went off and Cade noticed a dozen or so Stormtroopers headed their way. Eshreal stopped to fight them but Cade grabbed her.

"If we don't have to fight, let's not. We need to get out of here," Cade reminded her as they ran.

"What about our ship," Evanna asked as the group approached the Starfall.

"What about it," Zer-o asked as he used his lightsaber to deflect a blaster bolt.

"Well it has the coordinates to the meeting place in the Amara system. I am sure that once they realize we are gone they will tear the ship apart looking for anything leading to the resistance," Evan, Evanna's oldest son replied.

"Where is it," Cade asked.

"In the hanger in the middle of the base," Evanna said.

"Anyway we can hit it as we fly out," Taliki asked.

"Only if the hanger doors are open," Evan said.

Cade cursed under his breath.

"We don't have time to search all over this place. Our mission was to rescue you guys," Gear exclaimed.

Taliki ran onto the ship with Evanna and her children to ask Poe what he thought they should do.

"Forget the ship! As long as it was just the meeting place and nothing about Olara itself we can handle it. If we can blow it on our way out of the atmosphere so be it, if not it's not the end of the world," Poe replied.

"No, my mother made sure not to have anything other than the knowledge in her head about Olara and the Resistance left where anyone could find it. But that ship was our home for the last 4 years," the boy said.

"I am sorry about that but we can't risk you or anyone else for a ship. Liki, go tell the others that we are leaving like now," Poe said.

Taliki ran to relay the message.

Cade, Zer-o and Eshreal were fighting the Stormtroopers that had caught up to them. Zer-o and Cade were fighting back to back with hacking slashes that were severing limbs and cutting blasters into unusable pieces. Eshreal had put her lightsaber away and was using her plants and hands to put a hurting on the Stormtroopers.

"Poe said we have to go," Taliki called.

"You guys go. I'll get these guys off our tails," Eshreal said and the guys nodded before taking off from the ship.

Eshreal took to the sky and sent a shockwave made up of the Force toward the group of Stormtroopers looking mystified by the winged woman. When the wave of energy hit them they all flew backwards. Some were knocked unconscious while others were just dazed. Either way it was enough for Eshreal to make it onto the Starfall.

Poe got them up into the air but made sure to fly over the middle of the base. Cade was in the gunners seat just in case they got the opportunity to blow up the captured Resistance ship. The doors opened and 2 TIE Fighters flew out of the top. Cade got one shot off at the abandoned ship before he had to turn his attention on the TIEs. He hit one right away, taking out its wing to send it spiraling toward the ground. The other was a much better pilot and stayed on their tail no matter what maneuvers Poe preformed or how many shots Cade fired at it.

Finally the Starfall made it out of the atmosphere and Poe was able to put in the coordinates to a nearby star system. They finally lost the TIE fighter once they jumped to hyperspace. Evanna and her children celebrated being free and on their way back to the Resistance.

Poe couldn't believe these strange individuals worked so well together when it really mattered. They were great additions to the Resistance and he couldn't wait to tell Leia. On the long flight back to Olara, Eshreal and Taliki made sure that Evanna and her children were safe and comfortable. Once back on Olara, Poe reported the success of the mission to Leia who didn't seem surprised.

And just like that the members of the Last Hope with the addition of Taliki, had earned their places among the Resistance.


	4. Chapter 3: Home

I know, I know I'm always super late when it comes to put these chapters out so I might move the day to Monday just to give myself an extra day. Anyway, please RandR!

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FOR Two Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE READ CHAPTER 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Amazing characters other than Eshreal...

As always enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: Home

Leia, Finn and Rose were waiting for them when Eshreal guided the Starfall into the hanger of the Olara base, as well as half of the rebels on the base. Everyone cheered as Evanna and her children exited the Starfall. Poe told the group how proud of them he was. The group followed behind Poe and Leia who were escorting the group through the base.

"Queen Evanna, I'm glad my people were able to rescue you from the First Order so quickly. I trust that you are all unharmed," Leia said and it was the word queen that caught everyone's attention. "General Organa, I am no longer Queen of Naboo which is exactly why I am here," Evanna said. "You are here because you are my friend and I could very much use your support at this time," Leia said.

Essie grabbed the back of Poe's jacket and pulled him back between her and Cade.

"Did we really rescue the former Queen of Naboo," Cade asked. "Seems that way doesn't it," Poe said with his usual cocky smirk. "You could have told us she was royalty. We would have been more careful," Zer-o snapped. "I couldn't tell you anything I didn't know myself. Leia tells me what I need to do my job. Who they are is unimportant; what's important is the fact that we got them safely away from the First Order before they could be tortured," Poe said.

They couldn't argue with that.

"Besides she brought with her 500,000 Galactic credits. One of the many things the Resistance is lacking in is funds. The Jasmenerthians can't exactly sell what they are making here with us without it being too risky. Plus, we need the weapons and armor they are making more than the credits should we ever get to rescue Rey," Poe said. "If you needed credits, Cade has a whole mess a credits stashed on the Starfall," Eshreal blurted and both Cade and Zer-o shot her unfriendly looks.

Poe looked at the two bounty hunters with amazement. He'd never even heard of them but apparently, they were very good at their job. Poe knew that Leia wouldn't take their credits unless they offered, but it didn't seem like either man was too keen to part with what they had earned.

"No that's okay. If you guys continue doing what you did yesterday I don't think we'll have any issues with funding or a lack of people once word gets out that we can protect them on the way here," Poe said with an easy smile. "That was rather exciting," Taliki said with a slight blush. "Taliki, you are always welcome to join us when we go out," Zer-o said. "I already offered her a place on our team," Eshreal said, rolling her eyes. "Well good. Now there are five of us," Cade said in a tone that said he couldn't really care less.

The five of them followed Poe and Leia as she escorted former Queen Evanna to the 'Royal' dorm where the General's own set of rooms was located.

"So, what's next, Commander," Cade asked. "I don't know. You guys have been fighting all your lives. Maybe for now you could just relax, make yourselves at home. Think of it as a vacation at least until the General needs you again," Poe suggested. "Vacation? We are in the middle of a war," Gear exclaimed in shock.

Poe looked around at the young people. They looked so riled up and ready to fight that suddenly Poe felt older than his years. He remembered being just as ready to do whatever needed to be done not long ago, but that was before Kylo Ren stopped his pet dog from murdering people, the First Order wasn't forcefully taking children from their homes to make them fight for the Order, and there were a lot more than 300 rebels at his back.

"This is as close to peace time as the Galaxy has seen in a long time. Right now, we need to get stronger, build up our numbers, our weapons. Strength isn't just gained by working hard, its gained by knowing when to take a break and relax. Be ready when the General needs but eat, drink and be merry," Poe said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, we came here to fight the First Order not to relax in ," Eshreal said.

Poe shook his head.

"Well, what do you all suggest we do," Poe asked.

Everyone was silent then. Poe was right. There were no battles to fight at the moment. All that could be done is what is usually done in between battles; recoup, rebuild and prepare for the next one.

"Well it would help if there was some way we could train in the ways of the Force but with Rey being gone we can only do what we were doing before we got here," Cade said. "I guess we could go back home for a while," Zer-o suggested. "No, not yet. I think we should all stay for at least 2 months before we decided on anything," Eshreal said in her serious voice. "What did you see, Essie," Gear asked. "I didn't see anything, I just have a feeling things will go our way if we stay here," Eshreal said.

Poe and Taliki looked confused but Cade, Zer and Gear just nodded. They knew precog was one of the few skills that Eshreal had mastered. Though it wasn't as strong as Gear's ability; he could actually see things, Essie on the other hand could just feel them. Either way they had all learned long ago not to question their captain when she felt something so strongly.

They accompanied Poe and Leia back to her office once she was sure Evanna and her children were settled into their rooms. Leia sat at her desk with a slight smile on her face. She was so proud of the young people sitting before her.

"My people were skeptical about letting you all in but I told them I had a good feeling about you and you proved that you were good people when you didn't hesitate to rush headlong into danger for someone you didn't even know. Evanna said you were professional and ruthless when it came to dealing with the Stormtroopers holding them hostage. I can see why House Benelex thinks so highly of you two," Leia said to Cade and Zer-o.

The two males looked pleased with themselves.

"I was also impressed with you guys. Poe told me how well you all worked together and how you refused to let him get himself into trouble or jeopardize the mission by being recognized," Leia said shooting a wary look at her commander. "Hey, we all made it out with no issues thanks to Poe," Eshreal said. "Yeah, only thing that would have made the mission a bigger success is if we could have blown up that base too," Cade said and Zer-o and Gear agreed.

Poe and Leia exchanged a glance and a smile.

"There will be other opportunities to blow up First Order bases in the future. I know I'll need you guys for other things though, so I hope you all plan on staying. I know you didn't find what you came here looking for but that doesn't mean you won't still find it," Leia said with a smile. "Of course we are staying," Cade said reassuringly. "We have to be here when Rey comes home," Gear said with confidence.

Leia stared at the group, trying to decide what to think of them. In the end she just smiled and sent them on their way. So for two and a half months the members of the Last Hope kept themselves busy.

Eshreal made it her mission to introduce herself to everyone on the base and make as many friends as possible. The rebels loved her, especially the children since she was the only adult willing to waste time playing with them when there were so many more important things to do. When she wasn't babysitting, Eshreal took to tending the base's garden. Thanks to her the base's fresh food supply doubled and then tripled.

Cade spent his time taking apart and repairing the base's old, outdated technology with any spare parts he had on the Starfall. With the improvements he was able to double the strength of the energy field around the base and added motion detects a mile or so outside of the field. Cade also began hunting the prey animals found on Olara so that they had more to eat than fish, vegetables and fruit.

Taliki went back to helping Leia with things around the base. She delivered messages for the General and her staff around the base. She fetched people when Leia needed them but her favorite task was helping Eshreal with the children. Eshreal played their games while Taliki taught them new games to play and dances to do.

Zer-o took Shira and went out exploring in the jungles of Olara. They ate, slept and trained together until the nexu cub knew Zer-o's moves almost as well as Zer-o himself. Their training consisted of fighting predatory animals around Olara as well as each other. When Zer-o was not in the jungle, he was modifying any weapon on the base that he could get his hands on. Soon every dorm had a special weapon just in case the base was ever invaded.

Gear went out into the jungles of Olara to study it's flora and fauna. He ran experiments on everything, discovering medicinal purposes for plants and animals as well as things that would help him with his own personal mission of getting stronger. A few Jasmenerthians began accompanying him out into the field to help him bring back more of the medicinal stuff until they had a stockpile of alternatives to Bacta which they were in sore need of.

It was just fortunate they were all in the base when the alarm that Cade had set up started going off. The five of them met up in the main hall and made their way to Leia's office where Leia, Poe, Finn, Rose and Kaydel were waiting for them.

"What's going on," Cade asked. "Kylo Ren's shuttle just dropped into the atmosphere and landed a few miles away from the base," Leia said in a worried tone. "Are we being invaded," Taliki asked. "I doubt it. If we were being invaded it would be by a lot more than just Kylo Ren's personal shuttle. Only 5 people can even fit on the thing," Finn said and then turned to Cade. "I see you know your tech. Ren's shuttle is supposedly untraceable," he said. "Thanks," Cade said with pride. "Maybe Rey stole the shuttle and made her way back here. If it's untraceable to the Frist Order it would be the perfect ship to take," Rose said and the others nodded, hopeful.

Leia on the other hand looked worried.

"I doubt it will ever be that simple," Leia said. "What do you need from us, general," Zer asked. "Accompany us out to the edge of the shield, we may have need for those of you with lightsabers," Leia said and got up from her desk. "Yes ma'am," the three force users with lightsabers said.

They all followed Leia and the others out of the base and down the long road that led to the gate surrounding the base. They all stood there for a while and Cade began wondering if it had been a false alarm. Suddenly three figures could be seen in the distance.

"It can't be," Finn hissed. "You gotta be shitting me," Poe snapped. "Force, be with us," Leia whispered.

The figures got closer and the group could make out one male and two females. Leia was the first one to feel her son and Rey in the Force but she could tell when Eshreal, Gear and Zer-o did. Cade scented the air and then let out a growl.

"What is it," Taliki asked. "First Order scum," Zer-o hissed. "Rey is with them," Rose said and the group turned to look at the trio that was only about 10 meters away now.

They all looked to Leia as Kylo Ren, General Phasma, and Rey came to stand right outside of the shield.

"Gear, Cade, Eshreal, Taliki, Zer-o please escort those two dangerous criminals to the dungeons. If they cause trouble, do whatever necessary besides killing them to get them there," Leia said pointing to Kylo Ren and Phasma.

None of them argued just moved to do what she told them. Cade, Zer-o and Eshreal ignited their lightsabers and moved toward the two. Cade and Zer-o were hoping that they would put a fight but one look from Rey and they put their hands up and began moving toward the base.

* * *

This was a short chapter but now we are all caught up to the main story Two Parts of a Whole: a Reylo Star Wars story. Chapter 19 to be specific.


	5. Chapter 4: Mission 2

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FOR Two Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE READ CHAPTER 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Amazing characters other than Eshreal...

As always enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: Mission #2

Zer-o and Cade led the way to Poe's new hide out. They called it 'the hide out' because he spent 90% of his time hiding from both Rey and Kaydel there. The hide out was a small conference room near the front of the base with a door that looked like a book shelf. Poe had only told them where it was after making Eshreal swear on her honor that she wouldn't tell anyone else.

When they got there Cade looked around to make sure they were alone before knocking on the door. It slid open enough for Poe to peek out. When he saw that it was just them he opened it wider and moved back for them to come in.

"So, you guys talked to Leia, huh," Poe asked plopping down on one of the dusty leather couches that lined the southern wall of the room.

"Yeah, in the middle of our lesson" Eshreal said with a frown.

"Yeah, well bacta is more important than anything you could ever learn from Kylo Ren," Poe snapped.

"What about being able to heal with the Force," Gear asked.

Poe looked at the taller man.

"Is that really a thing," he asked.

"Yup. In fact there used to be a faction of Jedi who focused solely on healing. I don't know if there are any left now," Cade said with a thoughtful look.

"Well if the bastard could teach you to heal with the Force then that should have been the first thing he taught you," Poe said.

The Force users all laughed.

"What," Poe snapped, not liking that they weren't taking him seriously.

"We won't be able to do anything that complicated for a while yet," Gear explained.

"We just got the hang of being able to call on the Force at will," Cade said.

Poe looked at the group assembled before him. They didn't look any different than Rey had the first time he saw her, so he couldn't understand why they weren't on the same level as she was. This whole Force thing was frustrating.

"So how long until you guys can do stuff like that," he asked.

"Well usually Padawan train under their masters for a decade or so," Eshreal said absently playing with the vine around her wrist that seemed to respond to her touch.

"Well then why even bring it up, I doubt we have that kind of time," Poe said with a frown.

"We know we don't have that kind of time. So, tell us about this mission so we can be on our way," Eshreal said and they could all tell she had her big girl pants on again.

Poe sighed and began telling them all about the planet Rhinnal and everything he knew about Leia's contact on the planet. After about 20 minutes Cade, Gear and Poe were coming up with a plan. Taliki, Eshreal and Zer-o went to gather supplies they would need as well as whatever they needed from their rooms.

When the five of them met up at the Starfall there was an air of excitement to the group. Eshreal climbed into the pilot's seat with V5 in the co-pilots chair and off they went.

"I'm so excited," Taliki said standing near the back of Eshreal's chair.

"Yeah," Eshreal asked.

"Yeah, I've heard lots of stories about Rhinnal from my time as a ticket taker," she said with a smile.

"I'm just mad we had to leave Shira back home," Zer-o said, brooding in the corner.

"We need some where to put the bacta," Cade said for the third time.

"I know," he responded.

To get to Rhinnal it would take the Starfall a week. It wasn't a bad trip just a long, boring one as soon as they hoped on the Perlemian Trade Route there wasn't much left to do. Eshreal let V5 pilot most of the way and spent most of the trip playing Sabacc with the rest of the crew. By the end of the week Taliki, Gear and Eshreal had surmised that Cade and Zer-o cheated and that was how they kept winning. Though they claimed it was luck or the Force but there was no way they won every game by chance.

Rhinnal was a beautiful planet covered in white clouds that made it appear purplish rather than blue and green. Eshreal took control and headed toward the coordinates that Poe had given them. It turned out to be a field in the middle of nowhere.

"Are we expected to walk all the way to Rhire and then back with the bacta.," Taliki asked.

"I guess so," Cade said.

"We are just outside the city. I will leave V5 here and she can pick us up as soon as we have the bacta in the clear," Eshreal said with a bright smile as she fastened her thick brown robes and put her hood up.

The droid whirred in agreement.

"Well that's relief. Now let's go meet this Asera at the Spoeman Pub on the southern edge of town," Zer-o said.

They began walking toward the lights of the city that they could just barely make out through the trees. As they got closer to the city they began to see more and more Stormtroopers. They all pulled their hoods closer around their faces to avoid suspicion.

"Looks like Hux has been busy setting his men up anywhere that the Jedi used to be," Zer-o said as they entered the city.

There seemed to be a Stormtrooper on every corner and by the time they got the shabby two-story building with a sign reading Spoeman Pub hanging on by only one hinge it seemed that they were everywhere. Cade walked in first with Zer-o right behind him. Eshreal and Taliki walked in soon after with Gear right behind them.

The girls sat at the bar while Zer-o and Cade sat near the back of the room at a small table. Gear stood near the door keeping an eye out for high ranking members of the First Order and any Stormtroopers who might be looking for them. All of them were looking for Asera, the healer.

Leia said the woman was red, but they didn't think she meant literally. Asera the healer was sitting at the end of bar. Taliki spotted her first. She nodded to Eshreal who went over to her. She revealed the symbol of the Resistance in the ring that Poe had given her.

"Are you Asera the healer," Eshreal asked.

The beautiful Togruta woman nodded slightly. Then she got up from her seat and left the pub. Eshreal looked to the others in confusion. Gear immediately went after her.

"Let's go," Taliki said following behind Cade and Zer-o.

"Yeah," Eshreal said with a shrug.

Asera and Gear were waiting in the alley around back from the pub. She had a bored look on her face.

"Well hurry up," she said.

"What," Zer-o asked.

"The warehouse won't be so lightly guarded for long. This bacta is going to the First Order. I'll get you there, but you have to do the rest. That includes taking out the guards and getting the bacta back to your ship. After I get you there I'm leaving," she said in a sensually deep voice.

"You're not gonna help at all," Cade asked.

She pinned him with a scathing look.

"I risked my home planet by contacting the Resistance now that Supreme Leader Hux has deemed helping them an offense punishable by death of everyone you hold dear. I'm risking my place at the academy by leading you to the store house owned by the academy. I'm not risking my life fighting alongside you," she said.

"Fair enough. Let's go. We don't have much time," Gear said.

Asera lifted her hood and began walking very quickly along the edge of the city. The group followed behind her trying to look auspicious, but they could feel the eyes on them as they got closer to the warehouse. Eshreal's hand went to her lightsaber.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she whispered to Cade who nodded.

"Not too much farther. Right up there," Sera said with a nod.

They turned down another alley and Sera came to a stop with her back flat to the wall. The others did the same. Zer-o stood next to her.

"So, now what," he asked.

"Now you guys go do whatever you have to do in order to get into the warehouse. The code for the door is 981330. Good luck and may the Force be with you," she said and tried to walk off.

"Wait! Did you just say what I think you said? Are you a Jedi," Zer-o demanded grabbing her arm.

"No and if you would let go of me and do what you came here to do we can all make it out of here alive," she said and removed his hard from her arm.

Eshreal looked to Cade, "Can you discreetly check out the guards?"

"Yes, ma'am, but she stays here until I get back," he said and then seemed to fade from sight before their very eyes.

Asera let out s gasp and Zer-o chuckled. Cade went to check things out. The rest of the group checked their weapons and got ready to move. It wasn't long before he was back, and he did not look happy.

"This tail head is tryna set us up," Cade growled.

Taliki and Asera gasped.

"Cade," Eshreal said, shocked.

"What are you talking about," Zer-o demanded ignoring.

"There are about 15 Stormtroopers in that building. You call that lightly guarded," Cade snapped.

Asera looked perplexed. She shook her head.

"That's not right. There are only supposed to be 2 guards here right now. Not Stormtroopers," she said in a sincere voice.

Her tough façade was breaking and it was easy to see that she was worried.

"We can handle it if you help us! I'll just have V5 bring the Starfall this way. We just gotta be careful that we don't mess up the bacta tanks," Eshreal said.

"I can't help you," Asera said and ran away.

"Dammit," Zer-o hissed.

"We can't worry about that now. We need to move," Gear said.

Eshreal pulled her lightsaber and ignited it and the other's followed suit.

"We will take the majority of the fighting if we can. Liki, Gear, you two should focus on getting the bacta out and onto the ship," Cade said, and they nodded.

Zer-o put the code in and Cade threw a couple of smoke bombs inside. As soon as they went off, the group moved inside. Taliki and Gear moved through the smoky room toward the big bay doors.

Taliki quickly attacked two Stormtroopers with Lightning fast flicks of her whip. The first flick sent the whip around a Stormtrooper's legs and with a sharp tug he was sent to the ground hard enough that he was dazed. The second caught the woman around the throat and Taliki yanked her forward and then sent her flying into a wall with the Force before she fell onto the first man.

Gear was more of a hand to hand fighter and took on two Stormtroopers at once in the smoke. He delivered two hard kicks to one Stormtrooper's knee. Then he grabbed the others arm and yanked it out of the socket then used the Force to smash the other guy into him. They both went down and didn't get back up.

Cade and Zer-o rounded on the remaining Stormtroopers boxing them in with the large carts of Bacta tanks in the middle of the room splitting them in two and Eshreal blocking the door. Taliki and Gear threw open the bay doors just in time for the Starfall to arrive. All of the smoke from the bombs cleared and all of a sudden the Stormtroopers could see what was going on. They all began pulling their blasters and stared pointing them at Cade, Zer-o, and Eshreal.

"Do it," Zer-o called and Taliki and Gear nodded.

At once they began to pull with the Force and the large, heavy carts began to move forward and out of the doors. V5 opened the Starfall's loading door so they could get the Bacta onto the ship.

Meanwhile Eshreal sliced one Stormtrooper's blaster in half while it was still in her hand before she kicked her in the face sending her flying. She caught two blaster bolts with the Force before leaping in the air to knee another in the chest so that he hit the wall near the door and landed in a heap. Then she leapt for the ceiling and landed behind another. She extinguished her blade and threw her vine at the woman and it slowly began crawling up her body until she was covered head to toe by the wiggling vine.

Zer-o had taken the left side of the room. He was trading fire back and forth with 4 Stormtroopers. His purple lightsaber pistol was spitting purple blaster bolts that left scorch marks on the white armor of the Stormtroopers whenever they hit. The blaster was strong enough to go through the thinner parts of the armor. It burned wherever it touched and in some cases the bolts hit with enough force to cause a concussion. It didn't take long before they were all out.

Cade held his yellow lightsaber in one hand and slashed at four Stormtroopers with his razor like claws. He swung his lightsaber and kept blaster bolts from touching him. He removed limbs and cut blasters from hands. He took down his four Stormtroopers and turned to help the rest of the group when he saw the First Order ships.

"We have to get out of here," Cade called.

"What? Why," Eshreal asked.

"The First Order just showed up and I'm sure they aren't happy to see our ship. Get to the Starfall," Zer-o called and began running for the door.

Her, Cade and Zer-o were about to jump onto the ship when Gear met them at the loading door.

"There's still one more cart left in there," he said and began running for the building.

Suddenly the TIE fighters began firing at the Starfall. Luckily the ship's shield was much stronger thanks to the combined efforts of Rey, Eshreal, Zer-o and Cade. It took quite a few shots before the pilots of the TIE fighters figured out that there was no way they'd be able to blow up the Starfall.

Gear was just about to go into the building when one of the TIE fighters took aim at the building and fired. Eshreal and Taliki cried out at the same time. Zer-o and Cade went after him but it was all for naught. The building erupted in a ball of fire and Gear was blown backward several feet where his back hit the side of the Starfall before falling to the ground.

The guys rushed over to their friend and put out the flames that covered the front of his clothes. Zer-o looked him over and noticed that there was a nasty gash in the back of Gear's head as well as several pieces of shrapnel in the front of his body from the bacta tanks that exploded. Before either of them could do anything the TIE fighter started firing at them again.

"Get him on the ship! Now! We gotta find a doctor," Cade called…

They took him to his room as there was no med bay and knew that they had to get him to a doctor as soon as possible.

* * *

I tried to have a little more action for this mission. Did Asera really set them up? If so, Why? Poor Gear, will the group be able to find someone to help him without explaining what happened to him?


	6. Chapter 5: Completing the Team

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FOR Two Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE AT LEAST READ CHAPTERS 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

(This Chapter follows Two Parts of a Whole chapter: 27)

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Amazing characters other than Eshreal...

As always enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5: Completing the Team

Panic laced every decision the team made as they tried to come up with the best course of action to save Gear's life. Taliki and Eshreal wanted to use the stolen bacta but Cade shut that down right away. The bacta was for the resistance, until one of them said it was okay to use it, they couldn't and wouldn't unless as a last resort.

Zer-o was the one who decided that they needed to find Asera and make her treat Gear. She was a doctor/healer as well as a wielder of the Force. She also owed them for sending them into the heavily guarded warehouse. Sure they were grateful for the bacta but they would need that for the fights to come.

Zer-o and Cade refused to leave this planet without knowing that Gear was going to be okay. Not that the girls disagreed, Taliki just felt that Rhinnal was getting way too hot with the amount of First Order Stormtroopers arriving by TIE fighter, shuttle, and Star Destroyer. Eshreal agreed after having to shoot down strings of TIE fighters that seemed to be trailing after the Starfall everywhere they tried to go.

"This ship needs a cloaking mechanism," Zer-o muttered as Eshreal streaked through the sky looking for some where to land.

"Well go out and steal one and I'll install it on the ship," Eshreal barked.

She had been in adult mode ever since the accident. She'd used her plants to staunch the bleeding but his wounds weren't healing like normal. It was the fact that he hadn't regained consciousness yet that worried everyone.

Now they were headed back to Spoeman Pub to see if Asera was a regular there. Eshreal finally found a spot to set the Starfall down where it wouldn't be so easily recognized. Once the ship was secure Taliki, Eshreal, Cade and Zer-o all got ready to leave the ship. They all stopped in the doorway.

"Someone should stay here," Cade said quietly.

They all turned back to their fallen teammate. Taliki and Eshreal exchanged glances.

"I'll stay here. But you guys should stay on coms just in case someone shows up. It's not like I can fly this thing," Taliki said.

"Are you sure," Zer-o asked.

"Yeah, I'd rather stay here and watch over him since I feel partly responsible for him getting hurt," she said, not meeting any of their eyes.

"Why would you think that," Zer-o asked.

"Don't think that," Eshreal said at the same time.

"He's the moron who decided to go back for that last cart with those TIE's firing at the building," Cade said.

Taliki gave him an unfriendly look.

"While you three were so busy with your flashy weapons, Gear was the one worried about completing the mission," she snapped at Cade. Then she turned to Eshreal and Zer-o, "I feel like this because I should have been able to take a cart on my own, instead I needed help and because of that we lost time."

Eshreal put a hand on the pink woman's shoulder.

"It's okay. We've all made mistakes and maybe if that damn woman'd had better intel about the First Order already being there and we'd taken the weight of the carts into consideration things would have been different. Hindsight is always 20/20," Essie said.

"Besides Gear is a hell of a lot tougher than you think," Cade said reassuringly.

"We will find Asera and make her help Gear," Zer-o vowed.

Little did they know it would take almost 3 days before they were able to track Asera down.

Scouting the pub yielded no results. Everyone denied ever seeing the woman or even hearing the name Asera. Cade failed at using the mind trick on the bar tender and they got kicked out before Eshreal could even try. Eshreal tried to go back but the man threatened to call the First Order on them.

They moved on to walking through the town trying to get information on Asera or the medical Academy in town. Cade began chatting up a couple of nurses, leaving Zer-o and Eshreal to act as look outs. Zer-o spotted a rare blaster rifle on the back of a First Order mercenary and wandered off after the man. Eshreal, left on her own didn't fare any better. A couple of slavers recognized her beauty and naiveté and led her away from where she was waiting for Cade and Zer-o.

Once Cade got the location of the academy he returned to the meeting place. He was frustrated to find that both Zer-o and Eshreal were gone. After waiting for 20 minutes Zer-o came strolling back with a new rifle on his hip. He looked smug.

"Where the hell have you been," Cade snapped.

"I took out a mercenary and snatched his rifle," Zer-o said holding the gun up for Cade to see.

"Is Eshreal with you," Cade asked in an annoyed voice.

Zer-o looked around as though he just noticed that Eshreal was no longer with them.

"No. I thought she was waiting here," Zer-o said.

"Well obviously she's not here. Spread out and look for her. It's not like we have a lot of time," Cade said.

The two men were about to split up after agreeing to meet back in 5 minutes if they didn't find her. They knew she could take care of herself and would more than likely make her way back to the Starfall when she couldn't find them. Luckily, they didn't have to go looking for her.

Eshreal came shoving through the crowd.

"What happened to you," Cade asked.

"Some men came up to me offering me information about Asera and the academy. I followed them supposedly to a pub but when we got in a dark alley, they tried to grab me. They were slavers," she exclaimed.

"WHAT," Cade and Zer-o exclaimed at the same time.

They both reached for their lightsabers. Eshreal held her hands up and shook her head.

"No need to rush off. I already took care of it. I used the mind trick to make them think that they were lovers on vacation and made them go release all of the women they had captured. They won't be grabbing anyone else," Essie said.

"Good," Zer-o said.

"You can't just wander off with strangers, Eshreal," Cade said.

Eshreal rolled her eyes.

"I was just trying to help find Asera. Besides if I hadn't taken those guys out, imagine how many people they could have enslaved," she said.

Cade couldn't argue with her there.

"You said you got the info we were looking for," Zer asked getting back to business.

Cade nodded and said, "Yeah, the academy isn't far from here. Asera will be there. If she refuses to see us, all we have to do is bring Gear to the academy. They will have to let us in and they will have to treat Gear."

"That's great. We should walk to the Academy and explore the city," Eshreal said and was about to skip off when Zer stopped her.

"Let's just go get the ship and take Gear to the academy. We wasted enough time without going to the academy empty handed just to be turned away. You both know full well Asera isn't going to want to see us. She considers us too much of a risk," Zer-o said. When Eshreal and Cade nodded in agreement he continued, "I am sure by now the academy has been informed that the First Order didn't get their bacta and if Asera refuses to see us it will look suspicious on her end. This way if we show up with Gear, they'll have to treat him and we won't be wasting any time. We need to get back to the Resistance as soon as possible with the bacta and a healer wouldn't hurt either."

Cade stared at him as the three of them made their way back to the Starfall.

"You can't seriously wanna take that woman back to the Resistance with us," Eshreal said.

"Of course I do. She's a Force user and a healer. If we go back and tell Rey we found another one like us and didn't at least attempt to have her join us what do you think she and that bastard Ren will say," Zer-o reasoned.

"He does have a point, Essie," Cade said.

"You can't be serious. We still don't know if she set us up or not and you want to bring her back to our home," she asked incredulously as they entered the ship.

"You want to bring who back to our home," Taliki asked coming out of Gear's room, catching the tail end of the conversation.

"Zer-o and Cade think it would be a good idea for Asera to come back to Olara with us," Eshreal said with an attitude as she went and hopped into the pilot's chair.

The Starfall rose high enough in the air that they could see the whole city of Rhire. It wasn't hard to locate the academy as it was the size of a small city itself. There were landing pads all around the academy for all of the ships that came and went.

"I think we could really use a healer back on Olara instead of just trying to solve everything with Bacta," Zer-o said.

Surprisingly Taliki nodded.

"I think it's a good idea too. Especially if she can heal with the Force and she could teach the rest of us to do it," Taliki said.

"Well I guess I am out voted," Eshreal muttered as she landed the ship near the Academy.

"Don't pout. This is important," Taliki said.

"I'm not pouting. I just don't trust her," Eshreal said.

"You don't have to trust her yet. If she helps Gear with no problem, I will approach her about joining us. If she has a problem with helping Gear, I'll just tell her we might let slip that she was the one who led the thieves to the Academy's store house where the First Order's shipment of Bacta was just stolen from," Zer-o said and Cade nodded in agreement.

The group loaded Gear onto a homemade stretcher. Then Cade and Zer-o carefully carried him off the Starfall with Taliki and Eshreal leading the way. They got to the front gate where 4 guards were standing. They took one look at Eshreal, Taliki, Cade and Zer-o and raised their blasters at them.

"Halt! State your business with the Rhinnal State Medical Academy," the guards said in unison.

"It's an emergency. Our companion is gravely injured A woman named Asera told us about this place," Taliki said.

The men looked skeptical. Eshreal gestures for Cade and Zer-o to move closer with Gear on the stretcher. They moved a few steps closer and turned to the side so that the guards could see Gear wrapped in bandages.

"What happened to him," one of the guards asked.

"One of our escape pods malfunctioned and it exploded with him inside," Cade lied easily.

"It's been a couple of days and he still hasn't regained consciousness," Eshreal added.

"You said Asera told you about the Academy? How do you know her," the leader asked.

"We met when my former slave master brought me here to be treated a long time ago," Taliki lied.

The four men exchanged glances. Like most upstanding citizens they became uncomfortable at the mention of slavery. The leader went inside the guard shack and when he came back out he pressed a button to open the gate.

"Come inside, quickly. I spoke to one of the healers that work with Asera and they have an open room in their wing," he said.

Taliki and Eshreal bowed at the waist and began thanking the guards profusely. Once the gate was fully opened one of the guards escorted them inside. He walked along at a swift pace trying to give the group as little time to look around the academy as possible. Cade and Zer-o were still able to take note of a few pieces of equipment that would definitely be a help to the Resistance.

The wing that Asera was assigned to was near the rear of the massive facility. It was the Southeastern wing and that wing specialized in burns and severe head trauma. It seemed like destiny for that to be her specialty when it was exactly what they needed.

The guard took them to giant red metal doors. With a scan of his badge the doors opened and they were ushered inside. Asera was waiting for them with her arms crossed over her ample chest.

"Thank you, Hyland. I've got it from here," Asera said in a cold voice.

"Yes ma'am," the guard Hyland said and took off.

"What are you all doing here," Asera hissed as soon as they were alone in the hallway.

"Our friend here was blown up the First Order liberating the Bacta you promised to the Resistance. How do you think General Leia is going to feel if you let one of her people die," Eshreal asked with an attitude.

Asera tried to keep her face blank but after she looked Gear over she looked worried.

"This happened three days ago?"

The group nodded together.

"And he hasn't healed at all or regained consciousness since then," Asera asked.

"No," Zer-o said.

"We have a code Yellow," Asera called out and suddenly the quiet hallway was bustling with activity. "Take him in that room there," Asera said pointing to an open doorway.

Cade and Zer-o rushed him inside. Nurses and other healer filed into the room. Eshreal and Taliki stood lamely out in the hall. Neither female was sure what to do with themselves. Asera shoved Cade and Zer-o out into the hall.

"Nurse Kylel will show you all to a waiting room while we work on your friend. As soon as I know anything I will come find you guys," Asera said before shutting the door to Gear's room.

Nurse Kylel was shorter than Eshreal with pale brown hair and pale skin with clear blue eyes. She simply smiled and indicated for the group to follow her. The waiting room wasn't far. In fact it was close enough to see the closed door to Gear's room through the strange indoor windows. Nurse Kylel shut the door on them and everyone found a spot to sit down.

"So how long do you think it will take before Gear is okay," Taliki asked.

"I have no idea. If I knew anything about Force healing I'd have some idea but no one from my home planet could even do it," Eshreal said.

"Damn," Zer-o muttered under his breath.

As the minutes turned to hours the group began finding ways to fill the time. They found themselves needing to do and think about something other than their fallen comrade. Eshreal and Taliki fell into meditation while Cade and Zer-o disguised their presences with the Force and slipped out of the waiting room to take closer looks at the Academy's medical tech.

After about 10 long hours Asera came to find them. Cade and Zer-o had miraculously lifted equipment from the more deserted parts of the Academy and took them back to the Starfall without anyone catching them. Taliki and Eshreal had fallen asleep in their meditative poses, Eshreal in the traditional cross-legged position and Taliki standing on one leg. They all looked up when the door opened and Asera walked in.

"Well," Taliki asked impatiently.

"Your friend will live. We were able to heal the bleeding in his brain which is what was keeping him from waking up. The burns and cuts to his back and neck are also healed. He will be a little disoriented when he wakes up so I would suggest you take things slowly," Asera said.

"Did you use the Force to heal him," Cade asked.

"Partly. The academy tries not to rely on the Force as I am the only one who can even do it," Asera explained.

"Well thank you for saving our friend," Eshreal said and looked to Zer-o.

"Now I think it's time for you all to leave," Asera said.

"Oh we will, but you're coming with us," Cade said.

Asera looked shocked.

"What," she asked in confusion.

"The Resistance doesn't have a doctor that can heal with the Force," Zer-o started.

"Or a doctor at all," Cade added.

"So you want me to leave the Academy to be a healer for the Resistance," she asked incredulously.

"Yup," Eshreal and Taliki said.

"No way," Asera said without even considering it.

"Well you should hear us out before just saying no," Cade said with a wolfish grin on his face.

"What could you possibly say that could make me change my mind," Asera asked irritably.

"You can either come back with us under the guise of training some of our people to be healers or we can tell the people who run this place that you're the one who got the First Order's bacta stolen by the Resistance," Zer-o said.

Asera looked mortified.

"I…I…I thought you were the good guys but now you're black mailing me into leaving the academy just to die with the Resistance," she said with disgust.

"We don't plan on dying anytime soon. And the odds of it happening will decrease if you can teach some of us to heal with the Force. When you are done you can even come back here. General Leia would never keep anyone against their will," Eshreal explained.

Asera seemed to think on Eshreal's words.

"Plus, Gear will need someone with medical training to look him over once he's up," Taliki said.

"Please, Asera. The Force brought us all together for a reason. As far as we know, we are the only Force users left in the galaxy including Rey. We need to stick together," Zer-o pled.

"I noticed you said Force user instead of Jedi," Asera said finally.

"There are no more Jedi. Luke Skywalker was the last one. We are learning to be something new from Rey," Zer-o said, careful not to mention Ren just yet.

"Something new," Asera asked.

"Something that takes the aspects of both the light and the dark, but is stronger than both," Cade explained.

They finally had Asera's attention now.

"Training for what? To fight the First Order," she asked.

"Partly. The main reason we are training is that there is a new darkness threatening our galaxy that makes Snoke and Kylo Ren look like good guys. Most people aren't aware because Kylo Ren was forced out of the First Order before he could tell anyone," Eshreal said.

Asera processed the information for a moment.

"Someone worse than Snoke and the First Order is targeting our galaxy," Asera asked for clarity.

"His name is Zroyais and he has already taken over the First Order and anyone aligned with them," Zer-o said.

"We can't fight him with only 7 Force Users. Come fight with us and I promise that you will get so much stronger than you could ever get training here by yourself. You can help us rebuild the Resistance," Taliki pled.

In the end Asera agreed to join the Resistance and help out with teaching everyone to heal with the Force if possible. All in all Cade and Eshreal thought they'd done well and couldn't wait to introduce Asera to the group. It finally felt like they were complete.


	7. Chapter 6: Knights of Rey

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FORTwo Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE AT LEAST READ CHAPTERS 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

(This Chapter follows Two Parts of a Whole chapter: 28)

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Amazing characters other than Eshreal...

As always enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: The Knights of Rey

As soon as the Starfall landed on Olara the team rushed Gear to the med bay to get his wounds retreated properly. There wasn't even time for proper introductions. Eshreal and Cade stayed behind to give Leia a mission report while the Zer-o and Taliki helped Asera.

Leia was only a little upset that they had all but blackmailed the woman into coming back with them, but she was also very grateful to have someone who could heal with the Force among the resistance. She informed them that Hux was hiring poachers to capture dangerous animals for his fighting pits. Cade wanted to go after him, but Leia had other news.

While they were gone Hux had officially declared war on the Resistance and was planning to publicly out Kylo Ren as Ben Solo and execute 3 of Kylo's officers. Rey, Kylo, Poe and Phasma had rushed off to save them almost right away. Leia said she wasn't nervous but every few moments she would ask Kaydel if they'd heard anything new.

When Hux started his broadcast all of the inner circle squeezed into the communications room to watch. The room was filled with mixed emotions as they watched Kylo Ren and Rey work together to save three First Order officers. There were grumbles of 'they better be damn useful' and 'it's such a big risk for those bastards' and even 'Poe and Rey should leave Ren and that giant woman there to get what's coming to them'.

Hard looks from Leia shut every mouth in the room. Some of the tension left the room as they watched Hux flounder in his panic as once again things didn't go his way. Then everyone kicked into high gear waiting for the heroes to return.

Asera was upset to learn that Kylo Ren was not only a part of the Resistance now but the lover of Rey the last pure light Force user as well as one of the teachers too. She was relieved to learn that he wasn't there at the moment and wished that they had warned her that they were harboring the former Supreme Leader. She was shocked and horrified to learn that Kylo Ren was the son of two of the Resistance's greatest heroes. She felt better upon hearing that the others had reservations and concerns about learning from a dark Force user.

Once Asera was sure that Gear was going to be fine, Eshreal and Taliki showed her to an empty room. Then she headed back to the med bay to begin preparing for any injuries Rey and the others had sustained.

When Kylo Ren's shuttle landed outside the base Cade, Eshreal and Zer-o rushed out to help. Asera wasn't shocked when Zer-o came in and told her that they needed a stretcher and a cell prepped for the mall called Ozoroth. After everyone was treated and things were hashed out everyone returned to their rooms to pass out for the night.

In the morning everything seemed as though it had returned to normal. Asera was surprised when Eshreal knocked on her door early the next morning. She threw it open to find everyone waiting outside her door.

"What's up guys," she asked.

"You missed breakfast. Now it's time for class," Eshreal said with excitement.

"Class? What class," Asera asked.

"Because most of us grew up on our own, Ren volunteered to teach everyone the basics before Force training in the afternoons. Even the little kids and ex slaves," Zer-o explained.

Asera was shocked to hear that so many people within the rebellion were unschooled and that Kylo Ren was the one teaching them.

"No thanks. I don't need academic lessons. Someone come get me when you start training," Asera said, not wanting to be rude but also not wanting to spend any more time than necessary with Kylo Ren.

"Oh, okay," Taliki said disappointedly.

"We really wanted you to get to meet Rey, but I guess that can wait until later," Zer said and the group started heading down to the conference room.

"Wait, Rey is going to be there?"

"Yeah. She's never had any schooling either so she's always at lessons," Cade said.

And that was how Asera ended up in the cramped conference room with Eshreal and Taliki to her right and Zer-o and Cade to her left and Gear behind her with a bunch of kids practically in her lap listening to Kylo Ren confidently teach things like math, science, and history. He was a surprisingly good teacher and the way he treated the children and ex-slaves made Asera not so leery when it came to learning from him. But Rey was too busy taking notes to talk to the group.

After academic lessons everyone headed to the dining hall for lunch. After lunch everyone broke off to do their chores. Asera was of course assigned to the med bay where she would see patients and keep up the equipment. Though now that Gear was up and about there were no patients and all of the equipment that Cade and Zer-o had stolen from the academy didn't need any up keep, she soon found herself wandering around the base until it was time for Force training.

Eshreal and Taliki found her back near the med bay and showed her the way to the training ground that was nothing more than an open field filled with giant rocks and fallen trees. Rey and Kylo were already there sparring. The group stood back to watch as the two moved together like a well-oiled machine. When they were done Cade and the others had no choice but to clap.

"Wow," Asera said.

"You guys are amazing. I hope I'm that good one day," Eshreal said and bounced over to their mentors.

"You will be. You just have to keep at it," Rey said.

"Who is this," Kylo asked.

"Oh, Kylo, Rey, this is Asera Tessu. She can use the Force to heal people," Taliki explained.

Kylo looked Asera over and then nodded.

"I feel it too," Rey said.

Asera looked confusedly between the two.

"They have this freaky Force bond thing that allows them to communicate telepathically among a whole host of other things," Gear said.

"It is nice to meet you Asera. Do you have any formal training in using the Force for anything other than healing," Rey asked coming over to shake her hand.

"Yes, but only the basics. I have been able to develop some techniques on my own but I'm not a very skilled fighter," Asera answered.

"Well unfortunately you're going to go through a crash course on the basics of the Force as well as fighting because we are running out of time. Within the next 10 days I plan on heading out to get you all your own lightsabers. It is important for you to have them now that the First Order is backed by men wielding them. Once you have them I will be showing you all the basic lightsaber fighting styles. I know those of you who have lightsabers have been developing your own styles, but this will help when fighting against someone who also has one," Kylo said and the others nodded.

"Who says I want to fight," Asera asked shocking everyone.

"Why are you here if you don't want to fight," Rey asked.

"I came here to learn about the Force and to teach you all how to heal with the Force. I'm all for taking down the First Order and these new Sith, Jedi whatever but I planned to do it from the side lines," Asera said.

Kylo and Rey exchanged a look.

"Well Asera, long gone are the days of the pacifist Jedi Order. With the Darkness we are currently facing we will need every available hand when this war actually begins. Zroyais' men can't be hurt by lightsabers while in their armor and they are skilled with a lightsaber even if they don't seem to be able to manipulate the Force. They are well trained and ruthless. The Force is the only advantage we seem to have over them," Kylo stated.

"I know fighting an unknown enemy can be scary. I never thought I would be a part of something so important. A year ago I was nothing more than a scavenger on the planet Jakku with no real purpose but to collect scrap in order to feed myself to stay alive and wait for my family to come back for me," Rey said and they all could feel the pain behind her words. "I know the others all feel the same way."

Rey looked around the group and they all nodded. Asera was shocked. No one had bothered to mention that the hope of the Resistance was little more than a slave. She looked at the other members of the Last Hope and wondered what they'd meant by they'd been on their own.

"She wants to know your backgrounds," Rey said as though reading Asera's mind.

Asera and Kylo listened to the stories of Eshreal, Cade, Taliki, Zer-o and Gear. Rey had heard it all before but it still seemed to get to her. Eshreal went over and put her arms around the taller woman.

"It is okay, Rey. If we all hadn't lost something we never would have found our way here," she said with a slight smile.

Zer-o and Asera were shocked to see that Kylo Ren seemed effected by their stories too. Asera felt herself grow angry.

"You don't have the right to feel any type of way about the things that happened to them. The First Order is the cause of all this suffering and yet we are all supposed to be so grateful that you are willing to teach us and train us to fight an enemy you practically courted," Asera snapped.

"Asera," Rey started but Kylo shook his head.

"What's your story Asera? Did I personally do anything to you? I was only 8 years old when the Force awakened in me and Snoke began digging his claws into my psyche. I was 11 when Cade's parents were murdered. I was 13 when Taliki was sold into slavery. I was 14 when Eshreal's home world was destroyed. I was 19 when Snoke got Zer-o's mother killed. It wasn't until 5 years later that I joined the First Order. So yes I am to blame for a lot of things, hell you could even argue that I am the reason Gear's mentor was killed but even that I had nothing to directly do with. So tell me Asera Tessu, what did I personally do to you," Kylo snapped at her.

Asera's lower lip trembled.

"You willingly went to the man who was responsible for all of our pain! You killed for him! You did his bidding with pleasure. My parents were resistance fighters who were killed simply for gathering information about a store house. And when I was only 13 when I was sent away from my village and spent the next 5 years alone running from the First Order," she said.

Kylo scoffed at her and said, "And yet you were raised by people who actually cared for you, you ended up at one of the top medical academies in the Galaxy. None of us here can actually say that. We are all misfits Asera. My own mother and father were afraid of me as a child. I was left alone most of the time until I went to live with Luke and even then none of the other children wanted anything to do with me. No one here has had an easy life. Now you don't have to train with me. If Rey wants to make time to just train with you that's fine but as of right now you are taking away from the rest of the groups training time."

Kylo all but dismissed Asera.

He turned to the others and said, "We will be studying the school of Alter as it has the most applications on the light and dark side of the Force. Most of you can already use Telekinesis, Force Jump and Force Pull and Push with ease now. Some of you have even mastered other abilities within the Alter class such as Gear's Precog or Eshreal's Tapas."

Asera watched as the group worked together. Even Zer-o, who seemed to hate Kylo Ren as much as anybody, was into it. What shocked her was that Kylo Ren also seemed to be instructing Rey. In a moment of down time she asked the others about it.

"Well we came here to learn from Rey only to find out she has even less formal training than the rest of us. The Force is stronger in her because she is Kylo Ren's equal. He's actually been training her for a few months and most of their strength comes from the fact that through the bond they can access both sides of the Force," Cade explained.

"Is that why you all are willing to learn from him," she asked.

"I'm only here because there is no one else," Zer-o said.

"We are willing to learn from him because when he and Rey are together his light shines bright enough for him to feel like Ben Solo in my head and if Rey trusts him after all he's done, none of us have the right to judge them or their relationship. Besides he's a great teacher and not bad to look at," Eshreal said with a giggle.

Zer-o, Cade and Gear gave her a crazy look to which she just shrugged.

"I was hesitant at first but Essie is right. Ren is a good teacher and he's not all bad now that Snoke isn't pulling his strings anymore," Zer-o said.

"Fine. I give it a week. The first time he pulls some dark side mess on me, our deal is done," Asera said and joined the group after their break was over.

Neither Kylo nor Asera were really happy about working together but it quickly became clear that she was talented and a quick study. In fact she impressed Rey enough that she decided that Asera didn't need any extra training to catch her up to the others. Being able to heal with the Force required immense skill and control. The fact that Asera could do it easily meant that she could learn and master Force techniques faster than the others.

After five days of training Kylo felt that Asera was on the same level as the others meaning she was ready for her own lightsaber too. Kylo wanted to take a trip back to Ilum much to Eshreal's dismay. All that was left was to take it before Leia so she could either give her permission or say no which would just lead to Kylo taking the group anyway.

"First you want me to let you recruit the Knights of Ren and now you want me to let you take a group of Padawan to Ilum which is dangerous enough to get to but it is also guarded by the First Order," Leia said.

Kylo was about to speak but Eshreal stopped him.

"No offense Leia but if your son thinks he can handle the Knights of Ren then we need them. And I lived on Ilum by myself for over 14 years from the time I was 8 years old so I think a whole group of us should be fine. Besides the only thing that separates padawan from Jedi knight is the Jedi trials. I am sure everyone one of us has passed at least one of those trials. We aren't padawan; we are the Knights of Rey," Eshreal said and for once no one argued.

"I like that," Zer-o said.

"Much more fitting than the Last Hope since we've found 2 new people since we started calling ourselves that," Cade said and laughed.

Rey looked slightly uncomfortable and asked, "Why not Knights of the Resistance or something to that effect?"

"Because we came together to come learn from you. You alone gave all of us hope that the galaxy could be saved. Not to mention the fact that you brought Kylo Ren back to the light," Gear said.

Kylo and Leia looked expectantly at Rey who looked at a loss for words.

"I don't think I am the leader you guys are looking for. I have no real experience with things like this," she said.

"I'm sure my brother said the same thing," Leia said with a sigh.

"I know Han said it," Kylo said.

Everyone looked at him. Kylo never talked about his father. At least not in front of anyone other than Rey.

"Your father was a great leader even when he didn't want to be," Leia said, taking Kylo's hand.

The dark Jedi looked even more uncomfortable than Rey had earlier. Leia released him quickly as though she'd taken his hand more out of habit than conscious thought. She looked at her son and sighed.

"Fine. If you all think you can handle it I won't stop you," Leia said.

"We won't disappoint you," Rey said with a bright smile.

"You should come with us Leia. A lightsaber would do you some good too," Taliki said to which Leia just smiled and shooed them all from her office…


	8. Chapter 7: Becoming Warriors

WARNING: THIS IS A COMPANION STORY FORTwo Parts of a Whole: A Reylo Star Wars story. PLEASE AT LEAST READ CHAPTERS 1-19 BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY!

(This Chapter follows Two Parts of a Whole chapter: 29)

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the Amazing characters other than Eshreal...

As always enjoy!

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Chapter 7: Becoming Warriors

The next day Eshreal and the others all began gathering their things and loading them into their respective rooms on the Starfall. Being the captain/Pilot, Eshreal stopped by the kitchen to restock the galley on the ship. Then she met everyone by the ship.

Once Rey and Kylo were ready they all headed out together. It wasn't a long trip to Ilum, but it certainly was interesting. Eshreal had fun freaking out the team, doing barrel rolls without any warnings or flying so close to Kylo's shuttle that everyone thought they were going to crash. Cade and Zer-o were pretending to be calm, but she could tell they were freaking out. Gear and Taliki managed to keep focused but Asera swore they were going to die.

When Kylo called for them to fire on the TIE fighters, Zer and Cade didn't hesitate to run for the gunners seat, but Cade won out and he got to fire the shot when Kylo called for it. And once they landed Eshreal got to lead them all back to the temple where the real fun began. Rey, Gear, Taliki and Asera went into the cave each experiencing something different.

Gear relived his memories of his time with Snoke. The sick feeling of his darkness crawling through his brain and temporarily tainting his soul. Gear fought it off by remembering his mentor's words that 'the darkness was easy to drown in but those who are worthy of the light fight for it'. He remember the feeling of being free of Snoke and then he was free only to be dropped into another nightmare.

Gear was watching as the Stormtroopers fired on his mentor killing him. There was nothing he could do as he was aboard Cade and Zer-o's ship and they were fleeing at top speed. Gear crumbled under the guilt of knowing that his mentor was dead because he was trying to give Gear the opportunity to live in the light instead of the darkness that inhabited Kamino thanks to Snoke and the First Order.

He felt like such a failure to need protecting like that. He knew that Jeta was worried that if Gear stayed on Kamino he would fall to the dark side completely in his quest for strength. Now Gear had his friends to help him keep his head on straight and a doctor to oversee his experiments. The darkness had no hold on him.

When Gear came to he was holding two dark green Kyber crystals with dark centers. He knew immediately what he was going to build with them and was the first one out of the cave. He gathered his components and found an empty spot on the floor and began meditating on his lightsaber.

Taliki walked into the cave and suddenly she was back on her home world. The slavers were snatching her away from her mother who was screaming and crying for her child. The men with the slavers hit her father with the butt of his blaster rifle and threatened to take her mother too. She remembered feeling so helpless and weak. She never saw her parents again and sometime she felt that she didn't try hard enough or often enough to escape her captures or kill Nak'tul. She often wished the Force had awakened in her earlier. She could have saved her parents and herself a lot of pain and suffering.

She had failed as a child, but she would never fail to protect anyone she cared about ever again. When they got to Olara she swore to train extra hard. She would not be the one who would need help when it came time to fight. Taliki shook off her self-doubt, confident that she was strong enough to make a difference in a fight.

Then Taliki was back on that stage for the first time. The whip in her hand felt new and dangerous. The crowd was leering at her waiting for to hurt herself, whether minor or serious it was all entertainment to them. The more she hurt herself the more the crowd cheered. Nak'tul stood to the side watching her with greedy eyes.

Then she remembered that the whip was hers. She has spent years perfecting the dance that coordinated well enough with the whip that she could be seductive and threatening at once. The whip was her weapon, and no one would take it from her. She would do everything she could Rey and Kylo even if it meant giving her life. She came back to herself inside with cave with a pure white Kyber crystal in her hand. She headed out to join Gear in meditating on her weapon.

Asera didn't know what to expect when she walked into the cave. She expected to relive the moment she was told that her parents were dead or even when her village made her leave the planet. But she had come to grips with the fact that as a child there was nothing she could have done to stop her parents from going on that mission and she could not fault her village for sending her way in order to keep the First Order from destroying them all.

Instead she was at the academy. Deyoni, her mentor, was working on an injured girl. Asera was working on a girl who was dying. She'd been attacked by a wild animal. The men had caught and killed the beast, but the girl had a few mortal injuries. It was a wonder that she had made it to the academy at all. Asera had healed with the Force several times before and was confident she could help. She laid hands on the girl, but they were shaky, she couldn't find her focus. The girl died before Asera thought to call out to Deyoni.

Asera had never forgiven herself for that. She'd seen horrible things before then and could always find the Force. That's girl death haunted her and suddenly the body on the table belonged to Gear and then Zer-o and all her new friends were suddenly dead because of her. It took a while, but she slowly went over all of the patients she'd saved over the years and knew that she no longer had any trouble calling on the Force. She would see her friends through no matter what.

Asera came to with her bright orange crystal with the black core in her hand. She was ready to get started on her lightsaber. It came to her at the end of her vision. She headed out of the cave and was disappointed to see that Gear and Taliki where there already but intrigued to see that Rey had yet to come out and Ren had gone inside.

Once everyone had completed their lightsabers and Kylo told them what all the colors meant they were allowed to practice with their weapons out on Ilum. Kylo paired them up. Though they all wanted to wait and watch as he and Rey went at it, they knew they had to take every opportunity to get stronger while they could.

Eshreal was paired up with Cade. He snuck off into the terrain, using the Force to disguise his presence. Eshreal removed her cloak and spread her wings. She took her lightsaber into both hands and ignited the twin blades. She took to the air.

"You'll never hit me, Cade," Eshreal taunted.

Cade watched her from a formation of rocks. Once he had her in his sights. He fired off a yellow blaster bolt. Eshreal spun her blades and knocked the bolt away. Then she extinguished her blades and threw the spiked wheel in the direction the bolt had come from. At the last second Cade jumped out of the way and the rocks he was hiding amongst was obliterated.

"I'll get you next time. I've got you all figured out," Cade growled more to himself than anyone else.

Asera and Taliki were partnered together because they both had severely unique weapons. Kylo kept a mindful eye on them as he didn't want anything to happen to the doctor while they were so far away from home. Taliki tried to use her lightwhip the same way that she had used her regular whip but found it difficult.

"Taliki you need to concentrate on channeling the Force down your arm and into the whip. Make it move with you," Asera called while trying to pivot with the forked staff.

Both females were clumsy with their weapons to start but finally Asera managed to jab out with the staff and only Taliki's agility allowed her to get out of the way in time. Then she lashed out with the whip, finally getting it to move the way she wanted it to. Asera's quick thinking and reflexes brought the blades of her staff forward to block. Leaving the girls in a stalemate again.

Gear and Zer-o were having more fun with their training. Zer-o was firing off shots as he moved, leaving it up to Gear to block or dodge. Gear on the other hand needed to calculate how and when to get close to the other male for the best chance at tagging him. Zer made sure to stay on the move but knew eventually Gear's strategic mind would come up with something.

"Why won't you fight me head up," Gear called.

"Because you have a double ended laser sword and all I have is a pistol," Zer-o called with a grin.

He fired off a couple of shots and then hit the release as he charged in so that he was holding his lightsaber in its blade form. Zer-o beat Gear back with wide arching slashes and quick forward jabs. Gear stumbled on a patch of ice and went down in the snow.

"Again," Kylo and Rey called to the three pairs without ever stopping their battle.

Eshreal knew she wasn't the only one who noticed that Kylo Ren had gone from having fun with them to pushing them to their limits for hours on end. When they did get to rest they had to trek back to the ship just to warm up and eat. He wouldn't let them take anything off of the ship even though he was going to make them sleep in the temple.

"Is it just me or is Ren being even more of a slave driver than normal," Cade asked as they all ate on the Starfall.

"Yeah. He was almost happy after we all completed our lightsabers but now he's almost doubled the intensity of our training. I mean I'm not complaining because we all need to get stronger but this is getting ridiculous," Taliki said.

"We should just ask what's going on," Eshreal suggested.

Zer-o and Asera both snorted in disbelief.

"Good luck with that," Zer-o said.

"Yeah you can count me out," Asera said.

"You two are fowls. I wanna know what's going on," Cade said.

"He feels it too," Gear said causing them all to turn to him.

"What," they all asked.

"Kylo Ren can feel the darkness approaching this place. He knows we are running out of time and he is trying to prepare us before we have to fight for real. The first battle of this war is going to be fought right here on Ilum," Gear said.

He wasn't trying to freak them out but he was freaked out himself. He didn't know why he could feel the coming darkness or why he knew that Kylo Ren could feel it too. If he had to guess it was because they had both been touched by true darkness in the form of Snoke.

He could feel it like some looming shadow just waiting for the light to be fully extinguished before it would fall upon them with pain and death. They really didn't have much time. Either sometime during the night or very early tomorrow, Gear could bet his life that First Order ships would descend upon them.

"We have to be ready to fight," Gear said.

"We will be. Let's eat and take a nap before Ren starts barking orders at us again," Zer-o suggested heading off toward his own room.

"Yeah. I agree. Everyone get some rest. I'll go let Rey and Kylo know what's going on," Gear said and left the Starfall.

After a thorough chat with the leaders of the group, Kylo agreed that they could rest for the remainder of the night. Gear agreed to have them take turns keeping watch. The last thing they needed was Zroyais and Hux sneaking up on them.

* * *

Though the last chapter of Two Parts of a Whole is coming out Friday and then I'll be going on hiatus from the main story for 2 months before the next part of the trilogy comes out I will continue posting chapters for The Last Hope every week. I hope you guys stick with me as The Neo Order: A Reylo Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Knights of Rey continue the story.


	9. Not a Chapter

A/N: Hey guys unfortunately this is not a chapter. I didn't anticipate how busy I was going to be this weekend so I didn't get a chance to write a new chapter. I will try to get one out before the week is over as well as have the one ready for the next Monday.

Thanks for being patient.


	10. Chapter 8: Conversation

Disclaimer: I do not own star wars or any of the amazing characters except Eshreal.

A/N: Hey guys thanks for being patient with me. But here's the new chapter. If you are familiar with anime you know what filler episodes are. These next few chapters will kinda be like that as I don't want to give anything away for the Neo Order but I still wanna give you guys something to keep you occupied. Hopefully you will like these looks into the back grounds of my original characters before the met up with Rey and Kylo and even each other.

Now that that's all out of the way please enjoy.

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Chapter 8: Conversation

Eshreal

Eshreal had been all alone on Ilum for so long that she had stopped counting the days. Her home had been destroyed so there was no one coming for her. There were days that she wondered if it would have been better to just die with the rest of her people or to be captured and taken to the First Order. Anything was better than being so very alone on this frozen ball of rock.

She had mostly cleaned the CEC YT-2400 Light Freighter other than the engine room which had pretty much collapsed. Once she was done with the cleaning she had begun stripping the hulls of other ships to repair the various holes in the outside of the Light Freighter. She began to repair the ship from front to back. It took years.

On this particular day she was finally able to find the pieces she would need to stabilize the roof for the engine room so that she could finally start repairing the actual engine. She drug the parts behind her on a sled that she had made from the doors of one of the other ship wrecks. She had found stabilizers and enough bolts to attach them, ceiling panels she would have to cut to size to patch the inside and pieces of hull that would work as an outer patch.

As a 14-year-old who had spent the last 6 years all alone stripping parts from the various wrecks repairing the ship she'd been living in she really had no where to go when she did finish. Her people were gone, and she really didn't know much about this galaxy other than the fact that the First Order, the very people who blew up her planet, seemed to rule it.

That made this place very dangerous. So where would she go? With the way the few stormtroopers around here talked the ruling Republic was going to be wiped out any day. There was no way Eshreal was going to go join a society that was about to be taken over by the forces of the Dark side. If that was the case she could just stay here the rest of her life.

No she wasn't repairing the ship because she had somewhere to go; she was repairing the ship so that if she ever wanted to leave this floating ball of ice and rock she could. It was about having the option to leave if she really wanted to. If this ship was going to be her home for the rest of her life she would like it to actually have heat and power and the ability to fly her out of here if things ever got too crazy.

Eshreal was always aware of her environment even when she wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing. Today was no exception either. She had unloaded the parts needed to repair the engine room so that she could use her sled to transport the rubble she would remove from the ship. She was cutting through the rubble with her lightsaber and floating it over to the sled with the Force when something began to glow.

From her knowledge of machines she figured it had to be a droid of some kind trapped under the rubble. This ship had been here for decades by the layers of dust inside and ice outside that had built up so the droid probably wouldn't even function properly. Eshreal worked quickly to clear the rubble from around the light. She was shocked to find a purple and white astro-mechanic droid.

It's dome like head had been knocked off of its body and there was damage to the leg strut. After further inspection she saw that the battery box had also been damaged but she knew she had some of the pieces necessary to fix it. She managed to drag the droid back to her sleeping quarters where all of her tools and extra parts that she had stripped from totally destroyed droids were kept.

"Well lets open you up and see if I can't get you moving again," she said as she opened up the panels on the front of downed droid.

Wires had been disconnected when the panels of the dome had been crushed and separated from its body. The Radar lense was also cracked and both shoulder hydraulics were damaged. The more Eshreal took it apart to fix it the more she found wrong with it. She was glad that she had something to do for fun now.

Eshreal considered clearing and fixing the ship all a part of her Jedi training. Repairing this droid would be just for her. A friend of sorts. She opened another panel and discovered that the droid was a R2-D2 model.

It only took a couple of days before she got the droid online. The head swiveled around and the new radar lense taking in everything around it. It began speaking in the language of the droids almost too fast for Eshreal to understand.

"Hey wait slow down, little buddy," Eshreal said.

The droid still couldn't move around as she didn't have the tools to repair the left leg strut and didn't know where to get them. The droid began frantically beep again and Eshreal caught something about organics in white armor attacking the crew. One in black armor with a deep red lightsaber. The little droid was looking for its friends.

"Sorry, this ship has been here for a very long time. I don't think any of your old friends are around anymore, but I'm here. My name is Eshreal," she said introducing herself officially to the droid.

Eshreal could tell that the little droid was skeptical of her. She would be skeptical too. So, she kept talking to it.

"I found you about a week ago. The year is currently 23 ABY or after the battle of Yavin when the Legendary Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star according to some old books that I had found," Eshreal said using a clean rag to wipe some of the grime from her hands and the droid.

The astro-mech let out a stream of beeps, boops and whistles that roughly translated to something about the droids known as R2-D2 and C3P-0.

"I don't know. I assume R2-D2 and C3P-0 are still with Master Skywalker. I didn't read anything about either of their destructions," she answered.

Astro-mech let out a whistle that sounded like a sigh of relief. Eshreal wondered if this one knew the Protocol droid or the Astro-mech personally but was too polite to ask.

"What's the last year you remember," Eshreal asked.

The droid seemed to think about it as Eshreal went back to worked on repairing the right shoulder hydraulic. For a moment she thought the droid had gone off line again but then the droid carefully began telling Eshreal everything it could remember. Which was quiet a lot but Eshreal had time. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be. She had abandoned her training and repairing the ship until she got the Astro-mech up and running.

The Astro-mech explained that it had been on this light freighter since it was built but had never really been a part of the organics' team like those two famous droids but she, the droid referred to itself as a she which Eshreal found very interesting considering the droid didn't vocalize in basic like some droids could, had still found ways to make herself useful to them. She'd even gotten them out of a few sticky situations when fighting the Empire. The astro-mech made it clear that she was not particularly fond of organics and wasn't sure if Eshreal was any different.

"Well seeing as though you are the only friend I've got, I hope you see that I am worthy of your trust and friendship. In the mean time I have to go out and look for some tools, so we can get you mobile again," Eshreal said with a bright smile.

The droid beeped and whistled saying that Eshreal could call her R2-V5 as most of the parts she had used to repair the droid had come from a V5 model. Eshreal smiled even brighter. It was great having someone to talk to that would actually talk back. Many times, she prayed to the Force to show her father to her even if just in a dream. It had been so long since she'd heard his voice, or any friendly voice for that matter. So even if it was a droid who wasn't really sure it even liked Eshreal, she was happy for whatever conversation she could get.

Eshreal threw on her boots and heavy cloak with the hood up. Then she clipped her lightsaber onto her belt. With one final smile at her new friend she used the Force to place an exceptionally heavy piece of steel in front of her resting place so even if Stormtroopers came onto the ship they would never find that someone had been living there.

She stepped out into the frozen waste land that was Ilum and began wading through the snow that always seemed to be falling. After six years you'd think she would have grown used to the bitter wind and freezing temperatures but not yet. Instead she drew power from the Force to keep herself from slowly freezing to death.

She headed toward the nearest wreckage and crawled through the opening. It was one she had been in before and it didn't take long for her to get to the mostly destroyed workshop area. She began grabbing all of the tools she could find and stuffed them into her bag.

Next, she made her way down the curving hall looking for a storage closet or anywhere someone might keep oil and other things for droids. Just as she was giving up, she came a brand new, well very old, but unopen, completely sealed container of oil. Eshreal gave a shout of joy as she put the container in her satchel along with the tools.

"Did you hear that? Someone had to make those tracks and I'm betting they're inside," a voice said.

"It has to be that brat. If we get rid of her maybe the boss will get us off of this rock," another voice said.

"I don't see why Snoke can't come deal with her himself or send that apprentice he's got over on Kamino," the first voice said.

"Yeah," the second voice agreed.

Eshreal only a had a few seconds to decide if she was going to fight them on the ship or out in the open. She decided on out in the open and tightened her bag around her shoulder. She ran toward the opening and slid through it feet first just as one of the stormtroopers was getting ready to climb inside.

She kicked him in the head full force and ignited her blade just in time to slice through the blaster that the other stormtrooper had pointed at her. The one she had kicked shakily got to his feet and went for his blaster. Eshreal jumped over the other man and landed behind him as the first shaky shot was let off.

"Jameson, you idiot watch where you're firing that thing!"

Eshreal recognized the voice as the second storm trooper. She kicked him in the backs of his knees and put out her blade in one motion. She clipped it to her belt and reached out with the Force to rip the blaster from Jameson's hands.

"I can still shoot but I think the bitch may have given me a concussion," Jameson said, not even realizing that he no longer even had the blaster.

"Hey stupid, next time you insult someone make sure you still have a weapon," Eshreal taunted as she threw his blaster into the air, re-ignited her blade and cut it into pieces just as she had the other.

Then she kicked the man in front of her in the back sending him sprawling in the snow. Jameson let out a furious growl through his ugly stormtrooper mask and lunged at Eshreal who dodged him easily. These two were no match for her even on her worst day.

"Hey guys, now that you don't have blasters lets just call it a draw. You can live to fight another day and I can go back to what I was doing," she called with a smile.

"Never," Jameson cried.

"We have to take you down or bring you in," the other said finally get up out of the snow.

Eshreal dodged two punches from Jameson before punching him so hard she cracked his mask and then kicked him in his right knee cap, shattering it. She grabbed his arm and twisted it hard enough to yank it out of the socket. Once she was sure he was disabled she turned back to the other one.

He was holding another blaster and fired before she could react even with her reflexes. The bolt caught her in the stomach. Eshreal had never felt pain like that in her life. It made her angry. Almost as angry as when she had learned that this man called Snoke had ordered the destruction of her home world.

She grabbed the man by the throat and began choking the life from the man with the Force. She'd never felt power like this and immediately knew that it stemmed from the dark side. Before she could act on any of the impulses racing through her mind she tossed the man like a rag doll. She left them both where they lay and headed back for her ship.

She made sure to use to Force to cover her tracks this time. When it came time to lift the steel plate away from the door she was almost too weak to move it, so she moved it just enough to slip through and then moved it back. R2-V5 squealed when she saw the state of Eshreal.

"I'm fine, V5," Eshreal said setting her bag down on the ground and set the container of oil in front of the droid. "Nothing I haven't dealt with before," she said and sat heavily on her pallet before pulling her medical kit over to her.

V5 beeped and squealed at Eshreal.

"Some stormtroopers jumped me when I was trying to find more tools, so I can fix you up. Now I'm the one who needs fixing up," she said.

Eshreal pulled her shirt up and V5 could see the burned flesh and blood from the wound. The astro-mech beeped even more frantically. For supposedly unfeeling being the little droid sure seemed concerned about Eshreal. Essie chuckled to herself.

She took some ointment and bandages from the kit and gently applied it to the wound. She hissed out in pain. V5 whistled again.

"I've been shot before. Just not in the gut," Eshreal said, to which V5 responded with another round of beeps and whistles. "No. Well yes, I technically got shot trying to help you," Eshreal said.

The dome head on the droid began to spin as she let out another stream of whistles.

"Calm down, V5. I will live. I just need to rest," Eshreal said as she used the Force to wrap the bandages around her midsection. "But my dad always told me that friends would do anything for each other. Even take a shot to the gut," she said with a smile.

From that day on Eshreal and V5 were true friends. Once Eshreal got the droid mobile again they began working on fixing the Freighter up together. That wasn't the last time Eshreal got hurt saving herself and the droid but each time it happened their friendship just grew stronger until the droid knew that all organics weren't the same. Eshreal gave the droid a sense of belonging while the droid gave Eshreal her first friend in almost 7 years.

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If you enjoyed please leave me a review. Even if you didn't, all input is appreciated.


	11. Chapter 9: Chance Encounters part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the amazing characters other than Eshreal.

Please RandR!

And as always enjoy!

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Chapter 9: Chance Encounters

Cade

At the age of 17 Cade had been Rhimar's official apprentice for seven years and had already started taking on missions of his own and was making a name for himself. As her first official apprentice Cade was granted special privileges that the other rookie members of the group couldn't even dream of. Rhimar had also started taking him on her more dangerous missions, like the one they were on now.

2 days ago Rhimar was assigned with the task of retrieving the king of some planet's daughter. The trouble is that she was taken by the kin of Jabba the Hutt which meant they were currently deep in Hutt space at the moment. The whole thing made Cade uncomfortable and he said as much to Rhimar.

"Well it's a good thing the mission doesn't depend on what you are comfortable with," Rhimar said into the ear piece Cade was wearing.

"I didn't say it did," Cade barked sounding more like a petulant teenager than he would have liked.

"Then shut up and do what I told you, pup," Rhimar said and Cade could tell that she was smiling.

"Fine, hag," Cade said and was very glad he wasn't near her when he said it.

He took his ear piece out as she started screaming at him. Rhimar was no hag but Cade felt the need to get the insult in after she called him a pup. That was one of his pet peeves. He hated to be treated like or even called a kid.

He was a bounty hunter who was showing all those in the guild who had doubted Rhimar when she brought him home that he could hold his own. But Rhi liked to treat him like the same kid she'd found living all alone all those years ago. He couldn't blame her as she was as close to a mother as he'd had in a very long time. So long in fact that he had trouble remembering his birth mother's face.

"Cade! Cade! Cade put your damn ear piece back in and get moving. I just saw one of Rettus Trunn's lackeys waltz right by you," Rhimar was yelling into his ear piece as Cade was slipping it back into his ear.

"Shit," Cade hissed. "Sorry, Rhi. Which way did he go," Cade asked and then took off running when Rhi told him.

"Don't let him get away, Cade. We have to get Princess Estella back to her father soon. If we lose her the guild's reputation could be damaged," Rhimar reminded him.

"I know, I know you don't have to tell me again," Cade grumbled.

It wasn't long before Cade picked up the foul smell that could only be attributed to a Hutt and knew he was on the right track. The man seemed to know that he was being followed as his path was erratic. He would turn down one street just to turn around and go the opposite way. If he was trying to lose Cade he was about to be shit out of luck because unless he could change his scent there was no way Cade would lose him.

Cade ran around another corner just in time to see the man head into a bar. He stood in the shadows and watched the door for a moment or two, watching everyone who came and went. It was clear that the spot was run by the Hutts.

Cade flipped up the collar of his long trench coat and was about to walk toward the bar when someone ran into him. Whoever they were, they were running full out when they ran into Cade causing them both to topple to the ground. Cade felt himself grow angry.

"Hey, banthahole, watch where the hell you're going," Cade growled pushing the man away from him.

"Sorry," a voice said.

Cade's eyes landed on the young man who had run into him and almost pulled his weapons. The male had ebony skin with long stringy red hair and red markings all over his face. Cade could tell the male was a few years younger than him and was still growing, but the look on his face spoke of his confidence and ferocity.

"Just try not to knock over anyone else, kid. Everyone won't be so nice as to not kill you," Cade said.

"I don't need you to tell me anything about being cautious. I was just tryna prevent you from losing your own life. If I made you, then I'm sure the guy you were following made you too. Rettus Trunn's men are just waiting for you to walk inside so they can capture you too," the boy said.

Cade discreetly pulled his blaster and pointed it at the younger male.

"And how do you know that," Cade hissed.

"Because I am observant. Which you clearly are not. I've been on this planet long enough to know that Rettus Trunn is the smartest Hutt ever and he knows everything going on on this planet. He no doubt knows that you are here looking for the Princess," he said and began to talk off.

"Don't let him leave Cade," Rhimar said into his ear piece.

"Hey kid, how did you know I was looking for the Princess," Cade asked, grabbing the male by the arm.

"My name is not kid and if you don't want to lose those fingers, wolfman, I'd suggest you remove them from my arm," the male said and Cade let him go. Then he said, "Bounty Hunters such as yourself have been showing up here and leaving in body bags for the last couple weeks. It's all anyone ever talks about."

The younger male seemed to be sizing Cade up. Cade wasn't very well versed in the Force but he was able to feel others who were Force sensitive and this boy was very Force sensitive. Cade wondered if he was here all alone or if his master was somewhere nearby.

"What are you doing on this planet, kid? This is no place to be unless you have business with the Hutts," Cade said trying to get information out of the male without tipping him off.

"I'm just passing through," the male said quickly.

"See if he knows where the Princess is being held," Rhimar said and Cade physically jumped.

He had totally forgotten that she was there and could hear everything going on.

"Hey kid, I'll give you 200 credits if you can tell me where the Princess is being held or even where Trunn hides out," Cade said pulling out a satchel full of galactic credits.

"My name is Zer-o. Please stop calling me kid. I'm almost 15 years old and have been a man longer than you have," the male known as Zer-o said and Cade couldn't help but laugh.

He was beginning to like this kid.

"Okay, Zer-o. My name is Cade," Cade introduced himself.

"If I tell you where the Princess is you'll just go and get yourself killed like all the rest," Zer-o said.

"That's not true. I'm a part of House Benelex; we specialize in the return of kidnap victims. Plus I'm very good at my job," Cade said.

And Rhimar added, "When you aren't goofing off or chasing some pretty girl."

It took everything in Cade not to respond to her jab.

Zer-o held his hand out for the credits. Cade tossed him two hundred credit bars. Zer-o tucked them away then turned to Cade.

"Rettus Trunn hides out at the edge of town near the giant Jabba the Hutt statue. He is keeping the Princess locked in his quarters so no one can get to her," Zer-o said.

"How do I know I can trust this information," Cade asked because if he didn't Rhimar would yell at him for it later.

"Well you paid for it but I guess you would be a fool to trust someone you just met just because you paid them. But I have no reason to lie to you. I overheard Trunn himself talking about it. No one pays attention to a kid not even one from Dathomir," Zer-o said.

"Makes sense," Cade agreed.

"Besides, can't you tell if someone is lying through the Force? I can," Zer-o said and ran off.

"Hey wait," Cade called.

Cade started to go after him but Rhimar said, "Forget the kid, Cade. We have to get the Princess out of there!"

"Fine! But I don't like leaving him on his own. He reminds me of me in a lot of ways. Only I have a feeling he didn't have someone like you watching over him," Cade said and began heading for the edge of town.

"If the Force wills it, you will see him again. Now meet me at that blasted statue," Rhimar said.

"Yes, hag," Cade said and removed his ear piece again.

Cade and Rhimar met at the statue and began searching the nearby cliffs and caves for the entrance to Trunn's hide out. It took a while but finally they did find it. They were shocked to see that the entrance was unguarded but Rhimar said that was just to throw people off and she was right. A little further into the cave there were about 10 guards standing at the ready.

They were only hired mercenaries and didn't stand any chance against Rhimar and Cade who were used to fighting together and made a very good team. Rhimar made a joke that Trunn would have been better off getting First Order Stormtroopers to guard him. Once they were inside the underground compound they began searching for Trunn's personal quarters.

After running around for an hour or so Rhimar finally grabbed one of the mercenaries and allowed Cade to practice the Jedi mind trick on him. After three attempts he finally got the male to escort them to Trunn's quarters. None of the other men thought to question why he was leading strangers back to the boss' quarters which worked out perfectly for Cade and Rhi.

Once they got close to where Trunn laid his head, it was clear that all of Zer-o's information had checked out. Just outside the door, Cade was able to successfully use the mind trick on the mercenary to make him wait to escort them out and told him to tell everyone he was under Trunn's orders so no one would question what they were doing with Trunn's newest slave.

Rhimar stepped into Trunn's quarters first with Cade right behind her with his modified blaster pointed right at the fat slimy alien. Trunn looked surprised but the frightened princess recognized the sigil of House Benelex and knew they were there to rescue her. As Trunn went to call for help Cade shot his blaster dangerously close to the hut's head.

"By order of House Benelex, I order you to release the Princess into our custody," Rhimar called.

Trunn looked Rhimar up and down as much as he could while still keeping Cade in his sight.

"Only if an exotic looking female such as yourself takes her place. House Benelex has no pull here in Hutt space," Trunn said.

"Be that as it may, we have an order from the Republic that states if you don't let her go with us peacefully the Republic will step in and we all know you don't want that," Cade bluffed.

He went so far as to even pull out his data pad like he was about to pull up the warrant or even contact the Republic, which of course he wasn't but it made for a good show. Cade could not only smell his fear but he could see it gradually filling up his strange almond shaped eyes. Cade glanced at Rhimar who nodded her approval.

Before Cade could type or pretend to type anything Trunn called out, "Fine! Take the girl. She's more trouble than she's worth anyway."

Rhimar ran over to the girl to remove the shackles that kept her chained to the wall. Cade slipped his datapad back into its pouch and raised his blaster again. The Princess looked grateful enough to do whatever Cade and Rhimar asked.

"It's always nice doing business with you Trunn," Rhimar called as they walked the princess to the door.

"Rhimar you bitch, you will pay for this," Trunn said.

"I doubt it," she said and the three of them left Rettus Trunn's hideout with their mercenary escort making sure no one attacked them from behind.

Once the mercenary was free of Cade's influence he began calling for help. Before he could run back to the others a blaster shot was fired seemingly from out of nowhere, giving them just enough time to make it into the crowded streets of the city. It wasn't until much later that Rhimar and Cade learned that it was young Zer-o who had saved them that day.

Cade knew that Zer-o was special and made it his mission to run into the male again. Which he did 2 more times before Cade finally convinced Zer-o to join the guild and convinced Rhimar to actually back him and take him on as an apprentice. It didn't take long for Cade to grow on Zer-o and soon they were like brothers. Zer-o took to Rhimar as a surrogate mother even faster and soon the three of them were inseparable.


	12. Chapter 10: Chance Encounters part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the amazing characters except Eshreal.

Please RandR and as always: Enjoy

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Chapter 10: Chance Encounters Part 2

Zer-o

Zer-o had been on his own for the last 4 years with his Nexu cub Shira as his constant companion for the last 3. He missed his mother and his home though he knew that he wasn't welcome there. Not that he ever really was, his mother just made it seem that way.

Though Zer-o was a solitary creature by nature, he was tired of always having to do everything on his own. It would have been easier to develop his skills as well as steal the necessities he needed in order to live if he had a partner. Sure Shira was good at watching his back while he slept and causing a distraction whenever his rations got too low but it wasn't the same.

Zer-o figured that if he was going to be alone he needed to get stronger; both physically and power wise. He'd been developing his stealth skills when he felt something in the Force calling him to a planet in Hutt space. On the way there he caught a broadcast mentioning that a wealthy Princess was missing and it was presumed that she was kidnapped by a Hutt known as Rettus Trunn.

For a while Zer-o thought that was the reason the Force was calling him to Hutt space but once he landed on the planet he figured that couldn't be it. He started off by talking to the citizens, trying to get any information on where Trunn was keeping the Princess or at least what he planned to do with her. It didn't take long to realize that was a bad idea.

The people loyal to Trunn attacked him as soon as he asked about Princess Estella until the 14 year old thought he might lose his life. The people who feared Trunn begged Zer-o not to anger the Hutt as he was known to take his anger out on the people who lived on the planet. The few people that were willing to talk to him told him that every bounty hunter that had come to the planet to rescue the Princess had either been killed or captured and ransomed back to their respective guilds.

Either way the situation didn't seem good. Zer-o had planned to rescue the Princess and return her to her father for a hefty fee, maybe enough to buy a real ship and enough real food to sustain him and Shira for longer than a couple of days. Now after what he had learned he was just stuck on this floating ball of rock until he could figure out what had called him there.

He was there for another 3 days before a bounty hunter ship arrived in the atmosphere that called to him. It wasn't the first bounty hunter ship he'd seen since being on the planet or even the 10but he knew right away that this one was different. Instead of waiting to see what these new bounty hunters would do, Zer-o headed to where the ship had landed.

He was shocked to find a wolfman and a green female with blue diamond shaped tattoos on her face and red and blue layered hair exiting the ship. They were both dressed in civilian clothes but to Zer-o they didn't stand a chance at fitting in here. Zer-o could feel the wolfman in the Force like a roaring fire and immediately knew that he was Force sensitive too.

"We will have to split up in order to search this whole city. I want you to stay in constant communication and don't do anything stupid or reckless," the female said to the wolfman.

"Yes, mother," the male said in a surprisingly articulate voice.

Zer-o had run into Shistavanens before that could barely form words let alone speak as well as this one.

"Don't be a smartass Cade," the woman said as they headed off in separate directions.

The woman paused as the wolfman Cade continued walking and Zer-o could have sworn that she looked right at him and smiled. Then she shook her head and started walking again. Zer-o waited until both Cade and the woman were out of sight before leaving his hiding place. He was intrigued to know how the woman had known that he was there and where he was hiding but he has grown up around magic and had seen stranger things. On the other hand he had never met someone who was Force sensitive like him and decided to follow Cade.

The Shistavanen headed for the market place where there was the most activity. All of the noise and smells of the city made it easier to track the male without him noticing. Zer-o had expected the male to be much better at noticing that he was being followed but Zer-o trailed the male all the way into the heart of the city and he never even looked back.

Zer-o noticed Cade following one of Trunn's men. Then man was running around erratically before leading Cade directly to Trunn's favorite cantina. Cade stood in the shadows and watched the comings and goings of the place. It was at that moment that he knew that they were there for Princess Estella just like all of the other bounty hunters that had showed up.

Cade flipped the collar up on his long trench coat and began walking toward the cantina. Without even thinking Zer-o ran full out into the male's back causing them both to topple onto the ground. Zer-o heard the male let out a threatening growl and backed up to get to his feet.

"Hey, banthahole, watch where the hell you're going," Cade growled pushing Zer-o away from him.

"Sorry," Zer-o said in a low voice.

Zer-o looked the male over, noting his many weapons and even a satchel of credits on his belt. Not only was this man Force sensitive he was also a pretty good bounty hunter to be walking around with that kind of pocket change. Zer-o looked away so that he wouldn't be caught staring.

"Just try not to knock over anyone else, kid. Everyone won't be so nice as to not kill you," Cade said.

"I don't need you to tell me anything about being cautious. I was just tryna prevent you from losing your own life. If I made you, then I'm sure the guy you were following made you too. Rettus Trunn's men are just waiting for you to walk inside so they can capture you too," Zer-o snapped at him.

Cade discreetly pulled a blaster and pointed it at the younger male.

"And how do you know that," Cade hissed.

"Because I am observant. Which you clearly are not. I've been on this planet long enough to know that Rettus Trunn is the smartest Hutt ever and he knows everything going on on this planet. He no doubt knows that you are here looking for the Princess," he said and began to talk off.

Zer-o was surprised as Cade just let him walk away.

"Hey kid, how did you know I was looking for the Princess," Cade asked, grabbing the male by the arm.

"My name is not kid and if you don't want to lose those fingers, wolfman, I'd suggest you remove them from my arm," the male said and Cade let him go. Then he said, "Bounty Hunters such as yourself have been showing up here and leaving in body bags for the last couple weeks. It's all anyone ever talks about."

Which was partially true. Bounty hunters had been showing up and leaving in body bags but that's not how he knew that's what Cade was looking for. Zer-o stood and glared at the male for a second.

"What are you doing on this planet, kid? This is no place to be unless you have business with the Hutts," Cade said trying to get information out of the male without tipping him off.

Zer-o, however, saw right through it.

"I'm just passing through," Zer-o lied quickly.

There was another pause and Zer-o knew Cade was listening to the woman he'd arrived with through the com device in his ear. Zer-o wished he could hear what she was saying. He didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Hey kid, I'll give you 200 credits if you can tell me where the Princess is being held or even where Trunn hides out," Cade said pulling the satchel of credits from his belt.

"My name is Zer-o. Please stop calling me kid. I'm almost 15 years old and have been a man longer than you have," Zer-o said and Cade laughed.

Zer-o was liking this male less and less.

"Okay, Zer-o. My name is Cade," Cade introduced himself.

"If I tell you where the Princess is you'll just go and get yourself killed like all the rest," Zer-o said.

"That's not true. I'm a part of House Benelex; we specialize in the return of kidnap victims. Plus I'm very good at my job," Cade said.

Zer-o didn't doubt that as he held his hand out for the credits. Cade tossed him two hundred credit bars. Zer-o tucked them away then turned to Cade.

"Rettus Trunn hides out at the edge of town near the giant Jabba the Hutt statue. He is keeping the Princess locked in his quarters so no one can get to her," Zer-o said.

"How do I know I can trust this information," Cade asked.

"Well you paid for it but I guess you would be a fool to trust someone you just met just because you paid them. But I have no reason to lie to you. I overheard Trunn himself talking about it. No one pays attention to a kid not even one from Dathomir," Zer-o said.

"Makes sense," Cade agreed.

"Besides, can't you tell if someone is lying through the Force? I can," Zer-o said and ran off.

Zer-o had expected the male to be trained enough in the ways of the Force to recognize another Force sensitive but then again he also expected him to chase after Zer-o but he didn't. Instead Cade headed off toward the edge of town. Zer-o shook his head.

Those two were gonna get themselves killed if they actually attempted to rescue that Princess. She wasn't worth the two hundred credits Cade had paid Zer-o for the information as long as she was chained up in Trunn's bedroom.

Zer-o took the credits back to his ship and fed Shira who spent most of her time guarding the ship when he wasn't there. He scratched her head and went into his makeshift armory. He grabbed two blaster pistols and a rifle and strapped them on. He didn't even know if he'd be able to help them but he felt the need to try.

"Shira I will be back. Don't let anyone near this ship," he said and he scratched her again.

The still smallish Nexu cub released a sound that was a mixture of a purr and a growl. Then she curled right back up in her spot near the air lock. She would probably sleep there until he got back.

By the time Zer-o made it out to the Jabba statue, neither Cade or the green female were anywhere to be seen. Zer-o was able to pick out their tracks relatively easily as Cade didn't wear shoes and the woman had been wearing high heeled boots. Both sets of tracks were easily distinguishable among the flat wide boots of Trunn's men.

Zer-o snuck up to the entrance to Rettus Trunn's main hide out and peered inside. He couldn't see any guards at first but the tracks led deeper into the cave. He followed them until he found a group of mercenaries all knocked out. Suddenly Zer-o wished he'd brought a bag with him so he could swipe some of the weapons and tech they were carrying.

He didn't have time to investigate further as he heard commotion headed back toward him. He grabbed two of the blaster rifles and slipped back out of the cave just as two men came around the corner.

"Who do you think those two were with Ahshy," one asked.

"I don't know. Trunn didn't mention that he was negotiating with the bounty hunters for the return of that princess," the other said.

"You don't think they were forcing him to take them to Trunn do you," the first one asked.

The two men stopped in their tracks as Zer-o popped up from his hiding place in the bushes and aimed a blaster pistol at each of them. They dropped their weapons without Zer-o having to tell them to. The younger male didn't hesitate to pull the triggers, stunning them both. Zer-o returned to his hiding place as he heard a male voice calling for help followed by running and blasters being fired.

"I knew those idiots were going to get themselves killed," Zer-o said as he pulled out one of the stolen blasters and sighted it at the entrance to the cave.

Cade, the green female and Princess Estella ran out of the entrance with almost 20 mercenaries behind them.

"They did it," Zer-o said in amazement as he fired one shot into the man who was standing at the entrance to the cave calling for help.

Zer-o watched as the three of them disappeared into the busy streets of the market place. He liked Cade a little better now that he had done something no other bounty hunter had been able to do. In fact Zer-o couldn't helping being drawn to the two of them and quickly made his way back to his ship so that he could follow them where ever they went next.

Zer-o spent the next few months observing Cade and the female called Rhimar, only allowing them to become aware of him a few times. It was on that final encounter that Zer-o finally gave in to Cade and agreed to join House Benelex. Once Rhimar backed him, Zer-o and Shira had a place they could call home.

Cade became his brother and Rhimar was as close to a foster mother as he was willing to get. Together the three of them boosted House Benelex's reputation to new heights while Cade and Zer-o worked together to harness their Force abilities. Zer-o had never felt as welcome as he did when Cade and Rhimar accepted him as one of their own.


	13. Chapter 11: The Light and the Dark

Chapter 11: The Dark and the Light

Arca Gearsky

Jeta

From the moment of conception Jeta knew this clone was going to be different. He wasn't Force sensitive himself but as a scientist he was able to recognize the high level of Midichlorian cells in his body. The people in charge of Kamino didn't recognize the importance of this new clone so no one questioned Jeta when we requested to keep the clone for his own.

Jeta would use the boy as a sort of living experiment. At least at first but soon Jeta grew attached to the boy. So, when Arca got older and began asking questions Jeta just told him that they came from the same family and had the same blood. It was easy enough to believe though any clone of his would eventually figure it all out as Kamino was known for producing clones and that was Jeta's area of expertise.

Jeta watched Arca grow and knew some of his knowledge was passed on to him and in many ways Arca, who at four years old decided he would rather be called Gear, had already surpassed him in many aspects when it came to science and biology by the time he was nine years old. Though in many ways he was still very much a child and Jeta was protective of him. He refused to let the others use Gear for their own gain.

Around the time that the First Order took over control of Kamino, Gear told Arca that he'd felt the Force awaken. Jeta began to panic. Everyone on Kamino knew that the new leader of the First Order Supreme Leader Snoke was a Force User himself and in search of an apprentice.

Sure, enough two weeks after Gear shared his secret with Jeta, Jeta was called into his superior's office. The Kaminoan looked much like the others with slight differences that Jeta had picked up after decades of living and working amongst them. Glaac Brurtu was sitting behind his desk looking grim.

"You wanted to see me, sir," Jeta asked.

"Yes, Jeta. Take a seat," Glaac instructed.

Jeta sat and felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach. Gear had dreamed of the twisted dark alien Force User, Snoke coming for him. So far, the boy had yet to be wrong.

"As you know the First Order is sending someone to collect the first platoon of clone soldiers," Glaac asked and Jeta nodded. "Well last-minute Supreme Leader Snoke decided that he would also come to the facility. And he has requested to meet with the boy."

Jeta sighed. He knew there was no way he could refuse. Who knows what would happen if he tried to hide Gear.

"How long do I have to prepare him," Jeta asked, sounded tried and defeated.

"24 hours," Glaac said.

Jeta nodded and quickly exited the office to go find Gear working on one of his experiments in the lab. When Gear saw Jeta he looked grim as though the boy already knew what Jeta had come to tell him. Gear left his work station and Jeta lead him back to their quarters.

"What does that man want with me, Master," Gear asked as Jeta sat him down at their shared desk.

"I don't know for sure but I assume that he wants take you on as his apprentice and he will teach you the ways of the Force. I am not well versed in the ways of the dark side of the Force I assume it will be hard work and I fear it will change you in ways that I cannot even begin to comprehend," Jeta said.

Gear looked at the older male with startled eyes.

"I don't know if or how I can protect you but I will try my best," Jeta vowed.

Gear looked skeptical but had placed his trust in Jeta a long time ago.

"Okay," Gear said and then sat quietly for a very long time.

Jeta figured the boy just needed time to process and prepare himself for Snoke's arrival the next day. Jeta left Gear in their rooms and went back to work desperately trying to figure out a way to keep Snoke from taking the boy with him when the First Order left Kamino.

It took him most of the night but he did come up with a plan, even if it was one that he wasn't happy with. It was the only way he could guarantee that Snoke wouldn't take the boy though Jeta did not know what his punishment would be for denying the supreme leader but other than death he was willing to pay it.

The next day Jeta marched Gear to Glaac's office when the arrival of Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order was announced. Gear had been moody and quiet the entire walk there and was even more irritated when they had to stand at attention and wait for Snoke and the others to arrive. Glaac and Jeta's other superiors including Tuan We all gathered at the landing pad.

The First Order soldiers stepped off of the ship first and then came the inhumanely tall alien known as Snoke. Jeta could have swore that the temperature of the air dropped when Snoke got to where Jeta and Gear were standing. Snoke looked at the two of them and let out a raspy pleased laugh that made Jeta's skin crawl.

"Jeta Gearsky, Taun We and Glaac Brurtu speak highly of you and that is the only reason why I am entertaining your request for an audience before I begin testing the boy," Snoke said.

Jeta nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, Supreme Leader Snoke. You're generosity knows no bounds."

Gear glanced at his master in disbelief. Jeta subtly shook his head warning the boy not to say anything. Snoke noticed the silent communication between the two and Jeta hopped like hell he didn't exploit their closeness.

"Supreme Leader I've made my office free for you to use while you are here," Glaac said.

"Very well, Glaac. I am a quiver to hear what this Jeta Gearsky has to say," Snoke said.

Snoke sat behind Glaac's desk and stared at Jeta and Gear.

"You may begin," Snoke said.

Jeta looked at Gear and whispered, "Forgive me." He turned to Snoke and was all business. "I understand the Rule of Two probably better than most non-Force Sensitive people and though you may feel the need to take Arca with you I would just like to point out that he is a pivotal piece of figuring out how to produce the Force Sensitive clones that you seek," Jeta said.

Glaac and Taun We looked surprised along with Snoke but for different reasons. Long ago Jeta had made it clear that he would never use Gear to further the company's agenda, now here he was all but telling Snoke that is exactly what he was going to do.

"Oh, really and why is that," Snoke asked.

"Most of the clones made by my division are made from my own cells. After almost a century of cloning myself, Arca here is the first clone to ever be created with Midichlorian cells, enough of them to be able to wield the Force with relative ease. I believe to make more clones like Arca I would need to study how his DNA differs from the original host's DNA and possibly splice the two together," Jeta explained.

He saw the effect his words had on Gear and knew that the boy would be angry that Jeta had lied to him but he hadn't been prepared for the quiet rage that seemed to consume the boy. Jeta figured it was worth it if Gear would get to stay here on Kamino instead of Gods know where.

Snoke seemed to contemplate Jeta's words seriously and Jeta took that to be a good sign. Gear began to fidget. Snoke was staring holes in the boy but Gear never flinched he just never looked directly at the male either.

"Fine. I will test the boy while I am here but I do not need to take him with me yet. I have no use for children among my men," Snoke said in his nasally voice. "And I have ways of reaching the boy."

Jeta had never been more relieved and petrified at the same time than in that moment.

"My men would like to see the soldiers now. I will get to know young Arca Gearsky," Snoke said and Glaac and Taun We began to leave the room.

Jeta hesitated for only a moment before he left Gear all alone with Snoke.

…

Gear

Gear was furious at his mentor, no his clone. Not only had he lied to him his whole life, he'd just pretty much gave this monster permission to do whatever he wanted with him. Gear was so angry that he didn't even have time to be afraid. At least at first.

 ** _Hello Arca. I am Supreme Leader Snoke_** , Snoke said into Gear's head.

Gear didn't answer as the fear struck him. He stood stock still as if that would keep Snoke from being able to touch him. The male seemed to float on air as he moved around the desk to come stand before Gear.

 ** _I know you can hear me Arca. Answer me or I will make you answer me_** , Snoke all but snarled at Gear.

The almost friendly mask gone in an instant.

"What do you want me to say," Gear asked and he was ashamed that his voice quivered a bit.

 ** _I want you to acknowledge your Supreme Leader and Master when I speak to you. If you are to be my apprentice I expect you to follow my orders to the letter_** , Snoke said.

"And If I don't," Gear asked.

Instead of answering Snoke pointed one of his long fingers at Gear and a spark of blue lighting arched over to zap Gear. The lightning coursed through Gears body for maybe only 10 seconds but it felt like forever. Gear let out a scream and fell to his knees.

Snoke stopped and smirked down at the boy. Instead of cowering away from Snoke, Gear scowled up at him. Anger surged through him. He wanted to strike back at the cruel being.

Upon seeing Gear's reaction, the being smiled.

 ** _You get angry very quickly. That is good. And you hate me. That is good too. Anger and hatred are the keys to the dark side. Pain helps bring it all together. Joining with me will make you stronger than you can ever imagine_** , Snoke said and even though Gear was only a child he knew that it was not an offer.

He could not say no to the man. No matter how smart he was and how many ways his brain tried to process it, there was no way to say no. He thought of what to say that wouldn't get him electrocuted again.

"If I become your apprentice what will I get to do," Gear asked carefully.

 ** _You'll get to learn to channel all that rage you have built up inside of you. You'll get away from this god forsaken planet. Together we will over throw the Republic and rule the galaxy_** , Snoke said.

"But what do you get in return," Gear asked suspicious.

Snoke laughed.

"I knew you were gifted when it came to science but I see you have a understanding of how things work in the real world," Snoke said out loud. "All I ask is that you serve me and help me further my agenda to wipe out the New Jedi Order."

Gear suspected that there was more to it than what the male was saying but he didn't want to push his luck by asking more questions than he already had.

"Okay so how do we begin," Gear asked cautiously.

Snoke laughed again and said, "Hungry to learn, that is good to an extent." Snoke zapped Gear with his Force lighting again. "I will tell you when we begin boy. Never forget that I am your master. I don't care how smart you are, though it is a plus. Now hold on to that anger and hate. It's the only thing you have going for you right now."

Snoke's implied insult did indeed anger Gear and thus the beginning of his dark side training began.

When Snoke was finally done with Gear that day he was exhausted and hurt all over. Plus, he was angry with Jeta. So angry that he feared he might do something he would later regret. Snoke had made sure to keep Jeta's betrayal in the forefront of Gear's mind.

And truth be told, Gear was actually ashamed that he hadn't really put it together by now. After all he was working on a project that would allow the memories, knowledge and possibly even the consciousness of a sentient being to be transferred into a younger, stronger version of itself. Jeta was probably planning on doing the same thing to Gear.

Gear was trying his best to avoiding going to his quarters so that he didn't run into Jeta but as it turned out the Force had other plans for him. Jeta found Gear fuming in the lab after everyone else had left it for the day. Gear's anger and embarrassment flared at seeing his clone.

"What do you want," Gear asked.

"I wanted to apologize to you for a lot of things," Jeta said and Gear unclenched his fists.

He hadn't been expecting Jeta to apologize because that would be admitting to doing something wrong. If the older man's plan had been to just insert his mind into Gear's body why bother apologizing. It's not like Jeta couldn't just use the First Order and Snoke to keep him in line.

"I knew you were different when you were first conceived of my cells. None of the other scientist new what to look for but creating Force sensitive clones was always the plan once the first few survived the process of conception and accelerated aging, so I was the only one to recognize your potential. At first, I wanted you to grow up naturally so that I could monitor your growth and study your DNA at different ages in your development especially after the Force fully awakened in you.

But when as I held you in my arms as a tiny baby I began to grow attached to you. It was something I never expected but I began to really feel like your father. I got to the point where I no longer thought of you as a perfect experiment. At that point I decided that I would no longer use you as my controlled variable and I decided to hide as much from you as I could until it became necessary to tell you.

Today it was necessary for me to tell you," Jeta said.

So many emotions raced through Gear's head that for a moment he thought he might pass out.

"I had to tell them all that it was still my plan so that Snoke couldn't take you away and I would get the chance to help steer you away from completely falling to the darkness. There is strength in anger and hatred but also in peace and love. So, while Glaac and Snoke were talking about how he would continue your training while you remained here with me I came up with a device that will warn you when Snoke it's trying to enter your mind and temporarily block him. I'm not done yet and it needs to be tested so for now you will just have to guard your thoughts. I will also try to learn everything I can about the light side of the Force so that you have options. I hope that you can forgive me," Jeta said

"So, you aren't planning to take over my body or let Snoke drag me down into the dark," Gear asked.

Snoke had buried the seed of doubt deep into Gear's psyche that even after being around Jeta his entire life, Gear was still skeptical if he could trust Jeta because of one thing. Sure, it was a major thing but Snoke's manipulation was also able to draw out things that Gear hadn't even thought would bother him and now that was all that he could think of when Jeta was apologizing to him.

"No. In fact I will do whatever I can to help you get strong enough to decide for yourself if you want to be on the side of the Sith or the Jedi. I have a feeling that war won't come for some time. Let Snoke teach you to control the Force but let me worry about your focus," Jeta said and pulled Gear in for a hug.

Suddenly the dark cloud that seemed to be hanging over Gear's head seemed to disperse. All of a sudden, the young boy felt lighter and free than he had since Snoke and the First Order left Kamino. Gear had been worried that despite what Jeta had said about being worried that working with Snoke and the dark side would change him, but now he knew Jeta would do whatever necessary to protect Gear.

"Snoke is your dark and I will be your light, son," Jeta promised Gear.


	14. Chapter 12: Battle Scars

Chapter 12: Battle Scars

Talik'Ivaadi

Talik'Ivaadi, or Taliki Vaadi in basic, had been a slave for a long time at this point. She was only 6 when she was kidnapped from her parents and sold into slavery. Then she bounced around from slave market to slave market until she was bought at a secret auction being held on Jasmenerth.

She had spent much of her time taking tickets for whatever show Nak'tul, her owner, was putting on for the day. After all she was to weak and scrawny to do much else. There were times when Taliki questioned why Nak'tul even bothered to buy her in the first place.

All he did was complain about how useless she was and how she was costing him more money than she earned taking tickets to feed, clothe and house her. He insulted her in every manner possible especially in front of his cruel customers. He even beat her on the days when he was especially angry, though he never struck her in the face.

He said she was too pretty to be hit in the face. And that was why she was the ticket taker because her pretty, sweet face attracted customers that would normally shy away from his show. So, he never hit her in the face but he would leave blue black bruises all over the rose-pink skin of her torso and legs.

Taliki hated it there but she knew things could always be so much worse. He could whip her or sell her to the many men who asked about her or put her to work in the salt fields, but he didn't. So, she put up with Nak'tul and his brutish ways.

By the time Taliki turned 15 people were comparing her beauty to that of long forgotten goddesses. Nak'tul had attempted to marry her a few times and she had refused, stating that it would be better to be his slave than to be his wife. Of course, he beat her for saying it but at least she said it and stood her ground.

After her second refusal of his marriage proposal, Nak'tul decided that Taliki was too old to work as his ticket taker. He would find some younger slave to take her place. He had something special in mind for her.

"It's time you start pulling your own weight around here," Nak'tul growled at her.

Taliki came awake to Nak'tul standing over her. She clutched her thin blanket to her chest in an attempt to cover her night clothes from the male. Her heart was thudding in her chest and at first, she didn't know if it was a nightmare or really happening.

"Don't just sit there with that stupid look on your face, girl. Get up and get dressed. You got 5 minutes," he said and she knew it wasn't a dream.

"Yes, master," she said dejectedly.

She usually got to sleep longer than this but as her master was in a mood today she would not give him any reason to punish her. She got up and hurriedly changed into her everyday clothes. She threw some water on her face and went to meet Nak'tul outside.

"If I'm not taking tickets any more, what will I be doing," Taliki asked.

He looked at her in disgust for a second before a creepy, sinister grin came over his face. He tossed a long box at her feet. Then he sneered at her.

"Well don't just stand there, open it," he ordered.

Taliki fell to the ground and hurriedly undid all of the latches around the case to remove the lid. When she saw what was inside she was confused. She had no idea what she was looking at.

After studying it for a few seconds she realized that it was a whip. The thing had a long tubular hilt formed of metal with tendrils that included multiple extensions of leather studded with Mandalorian iron and flexible gem-speckled metal as well as little prongs that Taliki couldn't identify. The thing looked terrifying.

"What is that for," Taliki asked fearing the worse.

She thought Nak'tul was going to beat her with the horrific looking instrument. Her body was shaking with fear as she waited for his answer. Her stared down at her with glee.

"I'm not going to beat you with it. That would be too easy and nowhere near as profitable. No, you are going to put on 3 shows a day in between the fire breathing woman and the sea canine," Nak'tul said as if that explained everything.

"I don't understand," young Taliki said and her voice shook with fear.

"You'll preform a dance with the whip and bring in money. With the clothes you wear males will be lining up down the road to see you dance with the whip. Then you can finally start paying me back all of the credits you owe me," he growled at her.

"I've never danced before and especially not with a dangerous weapon," she said.

She wasn't trying to make him mad she just didn't understand how she was supposed to put on a show when she couldn't dance and had never handled a whip before. She had never handled any kind of weapon before. And why would Nak'tul trust her with something that looked like it could do so much damage.

"You better learn fast. You're first show is in two hours," he said.

He tossed her a record and walked off leaving her there staring at the whip as though she were afraid that it was going to jump out of the box and bite her.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. How was she supposed to learn how to dance and handle a whip in such a short amount of time? There was no one she could ask to help her either since all of the other slaves had their own shows to get ready for.

Taliki began to panic as time ticked away and she still had no idea what to do. Finally she took the long handle into her hands and gently lifted the coils from the box the whip had come in. It was lighter than she had imagined.

She flicked her wrist and the whip snapped just like she had seen it done countless times before when masters had punished their slaves back when she was still being passed from market to market. She felt dirty. Whips were almost the symbol for slave owners. Sure Taliki wouldn't be attacking or punishing anyone with the whip, it was enough to be in possession of one that made her feel dirty.

Instead of trying to get rid of the whip or really learn to handle it, Taliki began working on her dance moves. She turned on the record and began coming up with a simple routine in which she could use the whip as more of a prop and not actually have to do any tricks with it. Nak'tul would be fine as long as the crowd got their show. Or at least that's what she told herself.

Once the time came for her to head into the big tent to do her show she headed over to the performer's area. The others were shocked to see her there and none of them were very happy to see the whip in her hands.

"It's not what you think," Taliki said in a small voice.

"And what is it," the strong man called Batuu asked.

"Nak'tul told me I have to dance with this. Apparently, I'm too old to be the ticket taker anymore," she explained in a small voice.

"Leave the girl alone. She's gonna have a rough enough time on that stage as is," the old wise alien woman known Xavia said. Before Taliki could ask what Xavia explained, "Most of them are too young to remember the first girl to wield that whip before you. Just do your best and come see me afterward."

Her words did not comfort Taliki but they did make everyone else back off. A few even looked at her with sympathy. She was more nervous now as she waited for Nak'tul to announce her act. She took deep breaths to slow her heart rate so she didn't faint but it didn't calm her nerves and she jumped when he called her name.

She stepped out onto the stage and was momentarily blinded by the lights. She regained her composure and went to the center of the stage. As she waited for the music to start she looked over the crowd and was relieved to see that it was mostly males. Her seductive dance would surely appease them even if she hated to do it.

The music began and she put on an easy smile as she landed the moves she'd come up with earlier. She was so into the dance that she flicked the coils of the whip a little too vigorously and they snapped back biting into her legs. The prongs cutting into her skin, she tried not to cry out and kept going with her routine. The crowd seemed even more into it now and Nak'tul was giving her one of his best demented sneers.

Taliki ignored them and tried to picture herself somewhere nice. Her body moved to the rhythm of the music even despite the pain she was in thanks to the whip. Then she went to twirl the coils around her head and they caught her skin again.

This time she did cry out and dropped to the ground to remove the prongs that had dug into her arms, legs and hair. The crowd began to clap and cheer at her misfortune. Taliki felt tears burn in her eyes. She refused to give them the satisfaction of crying right there on stage. She went to run off stage when Nak'tul grabbed her arm.

"What do you think you're doing," he hissed at her.

"I'm hurt and need to tend to these wounds," Taliki said in a small shaky voice.

"After your show you can do that. Now get back to it. This song still has 3 minutes left," Nak'tul said cruelly and pushed her back toward the stage so hard that she fell to her knees.

The whip trailed behind her sounding for all the world like a snake slithering along the ground. It was even more unnerving. As much as Taliki wanted to break down or run off stage, she didn't because she knew that if she angered Nak'tul she'd be in even worse pain.

So she plastered a smile on her face and continued her routine. The coils of the whip continued to slash and catch at her skin so that by the end she was covered in cuts and blood. When the music ended she ran off the stage even though the crowd cheered and clapped as though she'd just put on the best performance they'd ever seen in their lives.

She found Xavia in her tent waiting. The older female looked over the sorry state that Taliki was in and immediately felt sorry for the youngling. Xavia patted the spot right next to her on the cot. Taliki dropped the whip right inside the tent and went to sit with Xavia who immediately opened her arms so that the younger woman could weep in her embrace.

Xavia just let Taliki cry until her body shaking wails turned into dry, hiccupping sobs. Taliki didn't know why Xavia was being so nice to her when they'd all barely acknowledged Taliki for the 7 years she'd been here. Not that she really cared. This was the first comfort she had received since being snatched from her parents almost 11 years ago.

"Now, now, I know it hurts but there's no need to weep your life away," Xavia said and pulled a mortar and pestle with a thick green paste in it from under the cot. "This will make it all better," she said.

"What is that," Taliki asked suddenly suspicious.

"This medicine will help your wounds heal overnight and keep them from scarring you," Xavia answered.

"Did you know this was going to happen? Why didn't you warn me," Taliki asked disgruntledly.

The older woman laughed and shook her head.

"Yes I knew it was going to happen and I couldn't warn you because Nak'tul would have punished me for it," Xavia said.

Taliki looked at her trying to figure out her role in all of this.

"How did you know it was going to happen," Taliki asked. "It's not like I tried to do any whip tricks or anything."

"I knew you were going to get hurt because that's what that thing is made for and that is exactly what our master wanted to happen. Those people paid to see you get up there and hurt yourself," Xavia said.

Taliki looked at her like she had no clue what she was talking about but after thinking about the way the crowd reacted, it made sense. Those people were never happier than right after Taliki had hurt herself. The thought made her shudder.

"How do you know all this? Did you see it in your crystal ball," Taliki asked, sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"My daughter Tavia was the first one to dance and wield that whip. Nak'tul put her on stage with the same intentions, to profit from my only child hurting herself. Tavia was too stubborn and never tried to master that whip. She said it went against everything in her to hold the symbol of our oppressor for any reason," Xavia said and began applying the salve to Taliki's numerous cuts.

"What happened to her," Taliki asked, because she felt the same way that Tavia had and she was curious as to where the girl was now.

"Eventually she perfected the first dance routine and was able to get through the whole song without letting the whip touch her. So Nak'tul would add a new song everyday so that there was no way she could come up with a routine that would allow her to walk off of that stage completely unscathed. She died on that stage from injuries she suffered from the whip. On the day she died, Nak'tul made her dance for two hours," Xavia explained.

Taliki's heart began beating faster in her chest. If she didn't learn to master the whip she would probably end up just like Tavia. Xavia finished wrapping Taliki's arms and legs and sat back. The older woman stared at Taliki's face.

"What are you thinking," Xavia asked.

"That I need to learn how to control this thing even if Nak'tul beats me for it. I don't wanna die on this godforsaken planet as a slave dancing and bleeding myself to death for someone else's entertainment. I will not be covered in battle scars when I've never been in a real battle," Taliki exclaimed.

From that day on Taliki worked harder than ever before in her life to master the whip.


	15. Chapter 13: One for All

Chapter 13: One for All

Asera Tessu

Asera Tessu was born on the planet Shili in the Ehosiq system of the Expansion region in the year 9ABY. While it was considered a time of peace for most of the galaxy Asera grew up knowing that it wasn't.

Asera was born into the Rebellion. Both of her parents were in the resistance and she was born on the home planet of Ahsoka Tano, a great Jedi warrior and hero to the people of Shili. While her parents would go on missions for the Resistance the villagers who took care of her would often regale the young girl with tales of Ahsoka and her master Anakin Skywalker, father of Luke Skywalker.

Then when Asera was six years old her mother and father went out on a mission for the Resistance and never returned. What was supposed to be a simple recon mission where they would gather information on a hidden supply base. Before they could complete their mission, they were captured by a faction of the dying empire now calling itself the First Order. And then they were executed for the whole galaxy to see.

Asera and her entire village were devastated at the news. Many thought she would be angry and blame the Resistance for sending her parents on the mission that ultimately led to her parents' demise. Asera did the exact opposite; she vowed to dedicate her life to making the First Order pay for taking her parents away from her, whether as a part of the Resistance or as something else.

After her parents' deaths, Asera decided to take on a more active role in her community even though she was only a little girl. She helped out in any way she could from volunteering to go on Akul hunts with the adults to helping watch over the younger kids of the village. She wanted to make sure that the village didn't miss her parents as much as she did by trying to fill all of the roles that they had left vacant.

Over the next six years Asera would begin honing the skills she would need to survive her mission to take out the First Order. She worked to become skilled in combat, tracking and using her ultrasonic abilities by going on every Akul hunt the elders would allow her to go on and even fighting head to head with the males in her village. In her free time Asera would meditate to find peace while also strengthening her connection to her home planet.

Everything changed for Asera on her thirteenth birthday. It started off ordinarily enough with Asera waking up all alone in her home before joining the village elders and other younglings for breakfast. Her few friends gave her small gifts, mostly things that they had made or found. She tried to be happy but her birthdays always reminded her that her parents were gone and never coming back.

"Happy Birthday, little one," a male by the name of Odabra Zemu said as the group got ready to head out for the day's hunt.

"Thank you, Oda," she said in a quiet voice.

"You're coming with us to catch those monsters that destroyed the village not too far from here, right," Heta Bin, one of the female hunters asked.

Asera was surprised, she was only supposed to go on a couple hunts a week and she had gone on the last three already. She looked to elder Arahsaah Zyks, who had been her grandmother's best friend. Arahsaah nodded her consent and Asera happily bounded off to put on her hunting gear.

Once she was dressed she went to meet up with the hunting party that consisted of 5 adult Togrutas and young Asera. There were 3 males and 3 females. Oda and Heta were the only two that didn't mind hunting with the young girl and when they learned that they were tracking two Akul the three of them decided to hunt together.

"Are you nervous," Heta asked.

"About what," Asera asked carefully scanning their surrounds as Oda made sure they were following the right path.

"Zera Myrlem said these are some of the biggest Akul she's ever seen," Oda answered.

Asera thought about it for a moment and decided that she wasn't nervous. She was excited. Now that she was out on the hunt and could forget about what wasn't waiting for her back at home and had a sense that something exciting was going to happen. Well something more than taking on the biggest Akul Zera, one of the oldest hunters, had ever seen.

"Nope. If we can take one down I'll be the youngest person ever to take down a giant Akul," Asera said with a bright smile.

All she wanted to do was leave her mark so that people remembered her generations after she was gone the way that they remembered Ahsoka and her parents.

"I like your attitude little one," Oda said with a smile.

The three of them moved forward silently once they reached the grasslands and began seeing more signs of the Akul they were tracking. It wasn't long before Heta spotted the orange furred beast. The group communicated using hand signals.

Heta and Asera were going to move in from the left and right while Oda came at it from behind.

Asera moved so that she was down wind and the Akul wouldn't catch her scent. She spent more time watching the ground for anything she could step on that would make noise and alert the ferocious beast to her presence than watching the beast. She and Heta were almost in position when the wind shifted.

Then several things happened at once and almost too fast to do anything about.

First, the wind shifted so that Oda was now upwind from the larger than normal Akul. The great beast turned toward where Oda was still crouched in the tall grass. It was only luck that kept the beast from seeing Asera when it turned her way.

Second, a second smaller Akul appeared from the grass near Heta. The thing charged straight for the older woman. But Heta had been a hunter for a long time and was able to move out of the way at the last second. Now Heta's focus was split between helping her husband and saving her own skin.

Third, as the larger Akul went to charge at Oda he tried to jump out of the way only to catch his foot on a tree root causing him to twist his leg badly. Oda fell to the ground with a loud cry. Heta saw this from where she'd perched in a tree to avoid the smaller Akul.

"Odabra," she called.

The smaller Akul grew bored with Heta up in the tree and went over to where Oda was laying on the ground. The larger Akul had stopped its charge and was now charging back to Oda, even more pissed off because it had missed the first time. Oda began to panic, not that the two women could blame him.

Asera watched in horror as the two beasts charged toward Oda. All the pain she'd felt when she'd learned of her parents' deaths came flooding back as the possibility of losing someone who was like an uncle to her became more and more real. She knew she couldn't just sit idly by and let the beasts kill him.

She sprung up from her hiding place among the grass and began running toward where Oda was.

"Asera, no! Stay back," Oda called as the beasts began to circle him.

"I won't let you die," Asera called back.

She was about a hundred yards away from Oda and the two Akul, when the larger one noticed her. Asera held her spear more securely in her hand as she prepared herself to launch it. Heta dropped down from the tree she was hiding in and using hand signals indicated that she was going to go for Oda when the opportunity presented itself.

Asera was glad that Heta was going to help her instead of telling her to run off to get help. She took a deep breath and launched the spear at the Akul. It skimmed the beast's fur and stuck in the ground. The thing raised its head and bared its teeth at Asera before charging at her.

Asera saw her short life flash before her eyes as the monster came charging at her. From the corner of her eye she could see that Heta had been able to subdue the smaller Akul and was now headed for Oda.

Asera sighed in relief.

Even if she died this day, she had at least helped save someone who had been nothing but kind to her since her parents had died. As the Akul got closer, Asera threw her arms up to protect herself and something strange happened. The beast was suddenly flung backwards until it crashed into some nearby trees and didn't get back up.

It took Asera a few moments to realize that she was being eaten alive. She lowered her arms to see Oda and Heta staring at her in amazement. The giant Akul was laid out in a heap near the trees that had splintered when the Akul hit them.

"Wha…what happened," Asera asked in a shaky voice.

Oda and Heta looked at each other for a brief second.

Then Oda said, "You threw the Akul into the trees."

"No I didn't," Asera did.

"But you did, Sera. We saw you put your arms up and then the Akul went flying," Heta explained helping Oda to his feet.

"That can't be. The only people who could do something like that are the Jedi and I am not a Jedi," Asera said adamantly.

"You might not be a Jedi but that doesn't mean that you aren't a Force user. Jedi is a religion, a faction. It's something you learn after you realize that you are Force sensitive. Only someone with the ability to manipulate the Force could have done what you just did," Oda said.

"Oda, we are going to have to tell the elders about this," Heta said reluctantly.

"Yes, I know," Oda said.

"What? Why? Why can't we just pretend like none of this ever happened," Asera asked even as she went over to Oda's other side to help him walk back to the village.

"Because you are the first Force sensitive from this planet since Ahsoka Tano. This is a miracle," Heta said.

"Well you two certainly don't seem happy about it," Asera said shortly.

She could tell that there was something they weren't telling her. The closer they got back to the village the more apprehensive Asera began feeling. She just had a bad feeling that something was going to change as soon as the village elders found out about what happened.

Asera and Heta took Odabra to the healer's house and left him there before heading to the elders' tent. Asera's nerves got worse the closer they got until she was visibly shaking. Every second she had to remind herself that she had nowhere to go if she left her village so that she didn't run away.

They walked inside and the 4 elders looked up at the same time.

"What gives you the right to enter our sacred place without invitation," Roshti Vyky, the meanest, oldest and wisest of the elders demanded as soon as Asera and Heta walked inside.

"What is it, Heta Bin," Arahsaah Zyks asked, ignoring Roshti.

"Elder Vyky, I apologize for coming here unannounced but this is of the utmost importance," Heta said answering Roshti so that he didn't punish her. Heta hesitated for only a second as she looked at Asera's frightened face before she said, "Our little Asera can use the Force."

Everyone in the room gasped. Asera's eyes dropped to the floor. Arahsaah got up from her perch and hobbled over to Asera. She looked Asera over for a moment and then turned back to the others and nodded.

"It is true. The Force is strong in this one," Arahsaah said.

The three other elders all began talking at once. They all seemed to be in full on panic mode which did nothing to ease Asera's anxiety. Arahsaah came over to place a hand on Asera's shoulder.

"Don't look so glum, dear. The Force is an amazing gift," the old woman said.

"If that were true they wouldn't be freaking out the way they are," Asera said in a small voice.

"I will explain in a second," Ara said and turned back to the group. "Ozaka Saal, it's time to go and get the holocrons," she said.

The other woman got up and quickly headed toward the back of the tent. When she came back she was holding 2 cubes that seemed to glow a bright blue. Ozaka held the cubes out to Asera who looked at them like they were going to attack her.

"Take them child," Ara said and kind of shoved Asera forward.

She held her hands out and Ozaka placed the cubes in her hands. Heta and the elders all looked to Asera expectantly. Asera stared at the cubes and then up at the elders.

"What am I supposed to do with them," she asked.

"A force user would be able to open them," Zuree Baas said.

Asera looked at him with a confused expression on her face. How was she supposed to open some tiny little cube when she didn't even know how she had sent the Akul flying earlier? If she couldn't open the holocrons then what? Would they send her away for being a failure?

"The girl won't be able to open them until she gains some control over her abilities," Roshti said. "Ahsoka couldn't open a holocron until she had been with Master Anakin for a while. She's going to need to train," Roshti said.

Asera, Heta and Arahsaah all looked shocked that Roshti would defend her. Roshti hated the Resistance and the Jedi almost as much as he hated the First Order. The fact that he did defend her made Asera and Ara highly suspicious.

"And who do you suppose would be able to train her," Ara asked.

"Luke Skywalker of course. She needs to go to the Resistance anyway. There is no way we could keep her safe when that monster comes for her. Our planet might just be blown up," Roshti said and Asera flinched.

"What is he talking about, Ara," Asera asked in a shaky voice.

"The leader of the First Order is hunting down and killing anyone who is Force Sensitive that opposes the First Order. They are taking out whole planets for just one or two people," Ara explained.

She was never one to sugar coat things.

"So if I am a Force user I am endangering everyone by being here," Asera asked.

"Yes," Roshti and Zuree said at the same time as Ara and Ozaka said, "No."

"Well it can't be both. Which is it? Because the last thing I want is to bring danger here," Asera said.

"Well I am glad that is the case. We have a ship that Neda Ne will teach you to pilot and then you can seek out the resistance," Zuree said.

It seemed to Asera that they had been planning this. Like they'd known she was Force sensitive before she did.

"I want to make it clear that you don't have to leave if you don't want to," Ara said.

"You would rather risk everything than to send this girl where she can be useful," Zuree argued.

They four elders argued for a while. Asera and Heta exchanged a look and Heta knew that Asera would rather leave her home than to endanger everyone she cared about. In the end she decided that seeking out the resistance was the best way to help her people as well as honor her parents' legacy.

"All for one and one for all," Asera said as her ship left Shili's atmosphere for probably the last time ever.

She was grateful for the life she'd been allowed to live for the last six years but now it was time for her real journey to begin.


	16. Epilogue I Have A Bad Feeling About This

Epilogue: I have a bad feeling about this…

After defeating the Stormtroopers, Zoroyais' foot soldiers and taking out the TIE fighters it was easy for the group to believe that victory was within their grasp. Especially when they made it back to where the Starfall and Kylo's shuttle were parked and the coast was totally clear. It didn't take long to realize that it was really all for nothing.

Taliki and Asera were furious that Kylo decided to send them to the Starfall. Asera and Taliki watched the battle from the ship which they seemed to be winning and couldn't understand why they couldn't stay and help. They were shocked that Eshreal wasn't upset about not being able to participate.

Eshreal had a feeling that the more people who stayed for the final battle with Zoroyais' personal body guards the easier it would be for them to capture or kill some of their group so she didn't argue when Kylo told her what to do. All she wanted was for them all to make if off of the stupid floating ball of ice in once piece. If she had to step away from the battle to insure they all had a safe way off of the planet she wouldn't be the one to complain. Instead she directed Taliki to help Asera prepare the cargo bay for any wounded they may have when things were all said and done.

The women were shocked when Gear brought the limbless clone male onto the ship. Gear locked him in the far side of the cargo bay.

Together Eshreal, Gear and Taliki watched as Kylo's shuttle exploded with Rey only a few feet away. Kylo's bellow shook the Starfall and Eshreal called to Asera that Rey was injured. Eshreal set the Starfall down just as Cade came running with Rey in his arms.

Then Zoroyais appeared from out of thin air, chasing away all of the light as he descended to the ground. Asera rushed Rey to one of the makeshift beds and began treating her right away. As soon as Sera had her stable Rey was trying to get up to get back to Kylo who was busy being thrown around along with Zer-o by Zoroyais.

Finally Rey'd had enough and she headed to the cockpit where Essie and Cade were busy coming up with a plan to get Zer and Kylo away from the dark Force user. Rey tried to communicate with Kylo but had to stop when a scream escaped her lips. Whatever Zoroyais was doing to Kylo, Rey felt it as if she were down on the ground with him.

Gear helped their fearless leader to a seat while Eshreal moved the Starfall into position. Cade went to the gunner's seat and began firing at Zoroyais while using the Force to keep their friends from being hit by friendly fire. While that monster was busy trying to stop the cannon fire that was being spurred on by Eshreal and Cade pushing it forward with the Force, Gear jumped out to go after Zer-o.

Next Taliki and Asera jumped down with the stretcher. Gear was helping Zer-o onto the ship slowly so that Asera was able to see the ruin of his face. They didn't have the time to be angry they needed to get Kylo Ren out of there before he was captured or killed.

As soon as they had him on the ship Eshreal took off into hyperspace.

Asera immediately went into doctor mode working to staunch the bleeding from Kylo's chest wounds. Once she thought she had him stable she looked Zer-o over and then the machine monitoring Kylo's heart began going crazy. On top of everything Rey collapsed near Kylo.

Then it was like all hell broke loose. The Starfall started shaking worse than any solar storm had ever rocked it. The power began cutting in and out leaving them with only the engines sometimes. If things kept up the way they were, the members of the Knights of Rey as well as both of their leaders would never make it back to Olara to warn everyone of what had happened. Eshreal thought for sure that they were all going to die.

Asera dropped everything and went to Kylo while Gear went to Rey and began chest compressions. Asera also tasked Taliki and Cade to monitor how Zer-o was doing. Asera was finally able to get Kylo stabilized and as soon as she did, Rey stabilized too. And then the Starfall stabilized.

The near death experience led Gear to head off to his room to find everything he could on Force Bonds. They needed to find a way to save Rey even if they couldn't save Kylo. The members of the Knights of Rey needed at least one leader. Without either Rey or Kylo they wouldn't be able to complete their training and trials and then there would be no one to stand up to Zoroyais and the First Order.

Eventually Eshreal put the ship on autopilot and made her way back to the makeshift med bay to check on things. Asera grimly informed her that Zer-o had lost his eye and had needed stitches across his face; Kylo's chest and torso were in ruins with parts of his heart shredded by Zoroyais' blade and Rey had collapsed and had yet to regain consciousness. Asera seemed genuinely upset when she said that the chances for Kylo Ren to live and make a full recovery were slim to none.

Luckily Asera was able to keep Zer-o and Kylo stable until they were able to get back to Olara where there was actual medical equipment, droids and 2 fully functional bacta tanks. Asera left Eshreal to fill in Leia and the rest of the Resistance about everything that had happened on Ilum. She and Gear took the two injured men into the operating room to try to save their lives.

Leia and the others were devastated as well as disheartened at the fact that they had clearly lost the first battle against The First Order and Zoroyais. However they were grateful for all of the lightsabers the group was able to procure from their enemies. Eshreal agreed to start teaching those willing how to wield a lightsaber safely and effectively so that if it ever came to it they would all be able to defend themselves.

With the first battle fought and lost, Leia and the resistance needed time to come up with escape plans in case they were ever found on Olara, attack plans to bring the fight to Hux and Zoroyais and contingency plans in case Rey and Kylo never woke up again. Not that Leia even wanted to think about that possibility but they needed to be prepared either way.

Leia and the others were slowly but surely coming to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe Eshreal, Asera, Cade, Taliki, Zer-o and Gear really were the Last Hope of the galaxy…

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Soo, thank you to everyone who stuck it out over my little hiatus from the main story but here we are at the end of the Last Hope and the first chapter for The Neo Order: a Reylo Star Wars Story will be out later this week. I will officially announce the first chapter's release here and on Two Parts of a Whole, so keep an eye out.


	17. Announcment

Hello everyone I'm back to let you know the first chapter in the second part of Two Parts of a Whole is out now. Go check out The Neo Order: a Reylo Star Wars Story now!!!


	18. Announcement 2

Hello everyone, I just want to let you know the first chapter in the second part of The Last Hope is out now. Go check out: Star Wars: The Knights of Rey out now!


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